Quoth the Raven
by Cynder2013
Summary: Harry Potter was left on the doorstep of his aunt's house to be raised by muggles. Another orphan of the First Wizarding War was left at a muggle prison to be raised by staff, inmates, and a werewolf guard. At Hogwarts they have their differences, but the two of them working together could be enough to change Fate. Cover: dolldivine. co / m/hob bi t-and-lotr-d res s-up-game.p hp
1. Prologue

Prologue

 _October 31_ _st_ _, 1979 –_ _Raven's Nest Maximum Security Prison, Yorkshire, England_

It was a dark and stormy night. Now, this is quite an overused description when beginning stories. Some 'dark and stormy' nights could more accurately be described as 'moonless and rainy' or 'cloudy with a bit of a drizzle'. However, in this case it was most definitely a dark and stormy night. Everyone in Yorkshire was battened down in their homes, unable to sleep because of the rain's incessant pounding. Children shrieked with fear and delight as thunder rumbled and lightning crackled loudly. The guards at the nearby prison, called the Nest by locals, were the only ones going about their normal Halloween routines, which were the same as any other night.

It was not a night to be outside, yet someone was.

A woman was walking along the wall of the prison, carrying a basket under her cloak. Her head was covered by her hood and water was running off her nose. The oddest thing about her was that, other than her nose, she was completely dry as she slogged through the storm.

She was also singing as she walked.

" _Lullaby and good night, with roses bedight. With lilies o'er spread is baby's wee bed."_

She stopped when she reached the prison gate. She looked up at the lights in the guard tower, and then at the gate itself.

 _"Lay thee down now and rest, may thy slumber be blessed. Lay thee down now and rest, may thy slumber be blessed."_

When she was satisfied by what she saw, the woman placed her basket on the ground in front of the gate. She then pulled out what would appear to most people to be a shapely stick and tapped the basket and most of its contents with it. She then flicked the stick upwards over the basket and a slight haze descended over it.

 _"Lullaby and goodnight, thy mother's delight. Bright angels beside my darling abide."_

Her work done, the woman stepped back from the basket with a sob. "Fate is cruel, my darling." she whispered. "Fate is cruel." Then she disappeared with a crack.

In the basket a baby rolled over in her sleep. To her she hugged a letter that contained her name, date of birth, and a series of runes that would make no sense to anyone who wasn't well studied in them. A small golden key on a chain also rattled inside the envelope. The girl's blankets deflected the rain from her through the night and into the morning, when she was found by a prison guard coming off of his shift. The guard shouted loudly in shock, which caused the guard in the watchtower to yell down to him, asking what was wrong.

"There's a baby down here!" he replied.

"What!?"

After much confusion the child was eventually settled in the staffroom, where she sat up in her basket and gummed on a biscuit while three guards, a nurse and two other members of staff looked on.

"What are we going to do with her?" the nurse eventually asked. The guard that had found her, shook his head helplessly. The two of them looked at the guard who was reading the letter that had been in the basket with the child, along with blankets, a grey teddy bear and a gold necklace with a key hanging from it.

For some reason, none of them found it strange that the blanket and its contents were completely dry.

The guard looked up from the letter. He was a man with a very take-charge attitude, so it was only natural that they would look to him for a decision.

"Her name is Patricia Stimpson," he said. "And we are going to keep her."

"Here?" the nurse asked with surprise.

"Here."

And so it happened that Patricia Stimpson became the ward of Raven's Nest Maximum Security Prison. It didn't seem at all odd to any of the staff, and the girl wasn't allowed to wander at first, so the prisoners were none the wiser. Two years later another baby was left on the front step of Number Four Privet Drive. A year after that one Remus John Lupin was hired as a guard at the Nest.

Then our story began to properly take place.

* * *

A/N: Why do I keep doing this? I just have to work on half a dozen stories at a time! Why? *sigh* Anyway, this is the prologue of my new Harry Potter story. I did say I was going to write one...

Disclaimer for entire story: I do not own Harry Potter. Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, who is so kind as to allow us to play in her world.

The song used here is _Brahm's Lullaby_ , which I also do not own.

-Cynder2013


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

 _November 1st, 1982 –_ _Raven's Nest Maximum Security Prison, Yorkshire, England_

James and Lily were dead. Peter was dead. Sirius was a traitor. Harry was missing. Remus was going for a job interview.

One of those things didn't belong with the others. Would you like to guess which one?

Remus John Lupin smoothed his suit as best he could and pushed the buzzer at the front gate of the prison. An intercom crackled to life.

"Please state your name and business," a man said. Remus cleared his throat before he replied.

"My name is Remus Lupin. I have an interview scheduled with Warden Styles at three o'clock."

There was silence for a moment, then the man said, "I am sending Charles Turpin out to meet you. He will take you to see the warden."

"Thank you sir."

"No problem. Good luck."

The intercom turned off. Remus looked around and rubbed his wand arm as he waited. That arm had recently been broken and, though it was healed, he still worried about his ability to fend off an attack.

Not that he was expecting to be attacked, but werewolves tend to automatically practice Alastor Moody's CONSTANT VIDGALANCE. So do Veelas, goblins, and muggle martial artists, all of whom you never want to have to fight against. Trust me.

Remus didn't have to wait for very long before Charles Turpin arrived. He was a heavyset man who looked a little bit like a blond Hagrid. The sleeves of his shirt were ripped off the make room for his muscular arms and the rest of his uniform was straining against his great girth.

I'm pretty sure that he's 100% human, but sometimes it's debatable.

Turpin opened the triple-locked staff door that was set in the wall beside the gate and gestured for Remus to come inside. He did and found himself in the muddy moat area between the two walls that surrounded the prison. Turpin asked him to hold his arms out. He complied and Turpin completed a quick pat-down. When he found Remus' wand in its holster on his arm, he frowned.

"What is this?" he asked.

Remus forced himself to laugh.

"Oh, that? That's just a magic wand. My sister gave it to me as a present one Christmas when we were kids and I don't think I've taken it off since."

"Oh. Well, you'll still have to go through security, but I think you'll be fine."

Going through security was tedious. Well, it was a _maximum_ security prison. Remus was glad that Warden Styles had told him to come two hours early; it took most of that time for him to get through security and into the actual prison.

Turpin led Remus through the twisting hallways until they reached a door with a nameplate reading 'Warden James Styles'. Turpin waved to the camera that was mounted above the door and Remus heard a buzzing noise as the door was unlocked.

"Good luck," Turpin said as he opened the door. "Just be honest and you'll do fine."

That would be a bit difficult to do, but Remus nodded to him all the same.

"Thank you."

Turpin clapped Remus on the back as he entered Warden Styles' office, causing Styles' first impression of Remus to be based on his ungainly stumble into his office. His expression didn't show any surprise.

"Good afternoon," Warden Styles said after Remus had regained his composure. "Please, have a seat."

"Thank you, warden."

Remus shook the warden's hand before gratefully sitting down. He had been on his feet all day, visiting as many of the Potters' friends as he could to try to get any news of Harry, going to Hogwarts to see if Dumbledore had come up with anything new, trying to track down Lilly's family to see if they knew anything, it was nice to have a bit of a rest.

He knew that after a year of searching the chances of finding Harry were slim, but for his best friend's son he couldn't bear to stop looking. He wouldn't even be at this interview if it weren't for Andromeda Tonks, who insisted that he try to get a job so that he wouldn't drive himself crazy.

Warden Styles leaned back in his seat and laced his fingers together. "So Mr. Lupin, have you worked at a prison before?" he asked.

Remembering Turpin's advice, Remus replied, "No sir, I haven't."

"Hmm…" Styles stroked his beard. In that moment he reminded Remus quite a lot of Dumbledore, only Styles was about sixty years younger, had one-eighth as much beard, and wasn't wearing glasses. "Do you have any experience in law enforcement?"

"Two of—" Remus cut himself off. "My friend worked as a police officer. He died last year." Both James and…Sirius had worked as Aurors (though James hadn't really needed to work at all), so he wasn't technically lying.

"My condolences. How good are you at self-defence?"

"I'm qualified to teach defence, sir."

Styles looked slightly surprised, but he nodded in acknowledgment. "Wonderful. Now, if there was a fight between two prisoners, what would you do?"

Remus thought for a moment. "That depends on how heated the fight is, sir. If they came to blows then I would do my best to break them apart. If it was just insults then I'd keep an eye on both of them, tell them to stop, but not physically interfere."

Styles nodded, but Remus couldn't tell if he was pleased with the answer or not.

"Well, Mr. Lupin, what about if…"

Styles continued asking questions and Remus continued to answer as honestly as he could. When asked what other jobs he'd held, Remus admitted that he'd never had any job before. No one in the wizarding world would hire a werewolf, and his time had been taken up with fighting in the war. Styles didn't seem disappointed, he just nodded, wrote something in the little notebook he'd taken out, and went to the next question.

"Well, Mr. Lupin," Styles said after a good hour of interviewing. "I believe you would be a good addition to our team. You're certainly more qualified than the other, pardon me, idiots who have applied."

Remus nodded in acknowledgment. "Thank you , warden."

"Just one last question."

Remus waited with anticipation.

"Do you like children?"

For the first time since he had met James, Peter and Sirius, Remus Lupin was completely and utterly confused.

* * *

The girl looked up as they entered her room. Calling it a room was generous as it was really just an old storage closet that hadn't been used for years, but it had been made into a room that any little girl would be proud of.

The bed was prison issue but the covers had been dyed an interesting reddish-purple that had probably come from beet juice. A pretty grey teddy bear held pride of place on top of the pillow. The walls were cleanly whitewashed and the floor was carpeted pale pink but neither held any stain. A bookshelf reached a good meter and a half up the wall to the left of the bed. Its lower shelves were crowded with picture books, books of poetry, and colouring books that seemed to greatly feature unicorns and fairies. A gilded carriage clock sat on top of the wooden dresser.

"Hello Mr. Turpin," the girl chimed, scrambling up from where she was lying on the floor, colouring. "How are you today?"

Turpin smiled. "I'm well, thank you Patricia." He pushed Remus forwards. As he was expecting it this time, Remus managed not to fall. "This is Remus Lupin. He's just got a job here."

Patricia looked up at Remus with big brown doe eyes. Curly red hair tumbled over her shoulders, reminding Remus painfully of Lily.

"Hello, Mr. Lupin," she said. "I'm Patricia Stimpson."

Stimpson. That was a name that Remus hadn't heard for almost two years. It immediately brought back the memory of a conversation he had had with Fabian Prewett back in the days of the Order of the Phoenix.

 _"Fabian! There's been another attack! The Stimpson place, Dumbledore wants us looking for survivors."_

 _"Pythia and Stanislav's house? I don't want to be the one to tell Gideon, he's in love with that daughter of theirs. Adorable baby girl."_

 _"I know. Hurry up!"_

Pythia Stimpson née Floros was a Seer from a Greek wizarding family. Stansilav was a Runes Master. Both of them had dealt blows against You-Know-Who, so the attack against them hadn't come as a huge surprise.

When they had reached the house they had found it almost completely untouched, except for the dark mark floating ominously above it. Protective runes surrounding the property had burnt themselves out and a strong anti-Disapparition jinx was still in place. After removing the jinx, Remus, Fabian and Sirius had entered the house and immediately found Stanislav and Pythia dead on the floor of their sitting room. The house had been ransacked and there was absolutely no sign of their daughter.

Remus looked at the girl in front of him. He hadn't known Stanislav and Pythia very well, Stanislav had gone to Durmstrang and Pythia was a Slytherin two years above the Marauders, but he could see how Patricia was related to them. She had the same prominent Greek nose and red hair as her mum had and brown eyes like her father.

She was also wearing a Gringotts vault key with the Stimpson snake and adder stone crest emblazoned on it on a chain around her neck. I think that would be a pretty good clue as to her identity.

Remus swallowed as he realized that he was taking too long to answer. "Patricia, it's wonderful to meet you. You wouldn't happen to be related to Stanislav and Pythia Stimpson, would you?"

Patricia frowned. "I don't know."

"She was found outside the gate three years ago and she's been here ever since," Turpin explained.

"Ah. Was there a letter by any chance?"

Patricia nodded. "Do you want to see it?"

"That would be lovely Patricia."

The girl nodded and rushed to the dresser. She began riffling through the top drawer.

"Where are you going with this, Lupin?" Turpin asked quietly while Patricia was occupied with finding the letter.

"I believe I may have known her parents," Remus replied.

"Really? Are they still alive?"

"They died three years ago."

"Oh." Turpin's eyes widened as he realized what the implications of that was. "Do you think one of them left her here?"

"It's definitely possible. They may have known that they were going to die."

Patricia took an envelope out of the drawer and carefully pulled a piece of paper out of it. "It doesn't say much," she apologized as she showed it to Remus.

The first thing that Remus noticed about the letter was the line of runes at the very bottom of it. He had taken Runes in school, and was pretty good at it if he did say so himself, but he could barely translate the lines that were most certainly Stanislav Stimpson's work. _Protect,raise_ and _child_ were all he could understand. He then saw how little the letter actually held. " _Patricia Stimpson, born September 9_ _th_ _, 1978."_ was written in a ladylike script that wobbled across the page, like the hand of the person writing it had been shaking horribly. For some reason, he felt that there should be a lot more on the page. He held out his hand.

"Patricia, may I examine it more closely please?"

Patricia hesitated for a moment, but she handed him the letter. As soon as he touched the page the letters swirled and rearranged themselves into a much longer missive.

" _Dear Remus Lupin_ ," it began.

" _If you are reading this, then you have our congratulations on getting the job. We are writing to ask you a very great favor. As you are no doubt aware, our daughter Patricia resides at your workplace. We would like for you to take her under your wing and make sure that she does not grow up ignorant of our world. We know that all the staff have been taking care of her, but she needs someone to teach her about the wizarding world and her heritage (you will find books in our vault that will be helpful for the second part). She is slated to go to Hogwarts, and we hope that by that time both of you will be able to walk in the wizarding world with confidence._

 _Of course you do not have to do this, and you may not want to because of your 'furry little problem', but the future that Pythia sees for Patricia with you in it is far better for both of you than one without. We encourage you to choose this path, and are forever in your debt if you do._

 _Thank you and farewell,_

 _Stanislav and Pythia Stimpson"_

Reeling, Remus gave the letter back to Patricia. It immediately circled back into the two-line message.

Turpin raised an eyebrow. "Well?" he asked.

Remus crouched down so that he was at Patricia's eye level.

"Patricia, would you like me to tell you about your parents?"

* * *

A/N: An adder stone, for anyone who's wondering, is any stone with a natural hole through it.

Please point out any mistakes if you see them! I haven't read the Harry Potter books in a long time, and I may have messed up something really obvious.

Happy Canada Day!

-Cynder2013


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

 _September 9_ _th_ _, 1983- Darwin Primary School,_ _Yorkshire, England_

Patricia was maintaining her crushing hug around Remus's legs as he attempted to enter the school. He didn't know what had gotten into her. She had been madly excited about her first day for school for the past week but then, just as they had left the Nest, had done a complete turn around and decided that she didn't want to go.

"We can still turn back Uncle Remus."

A woman who was carrying a tearful blond girl with a leaf-shaped birthmark on her cheek heard Patricia's words and gave Remus a quirky smile.

"Don't worry. I've been through this twice before and trust me, when you come to pick her up she won't want to leave."

Remus attempted to rid himself of Patricia's iron grip, and failed. The girl had all the strength of a seasoned Beater.

"That would be something." As the woman had her hands full, he nodded to her courteously. "I'm Remus Lupin."

The woman shifted the no-longer-crying girl to her left arm and shook hands with Remus.

"Mary Bowen. This is my youngest daughter, Tracy."

Tracy buried her face in her mother's shoulder, embarrassed. Patricia noticed the other girl's red face and, _finally_ , released Remus' legs in order to address her properly.

"Hello Tracy. My name is Patricia Stimpson. Who's your teacher?"

Tracy sniffed. She looked down at the long-named redheaded girl who had spoken to her. "Miss Box. Both my brothers were in her class."

"She's my teacher to! Is she nice?" Patricia wondered.

Tracy nodded.

"Than what are we waiting for? Let's go meet her!"

Mary put Tracy down and the two girls walked into the building together. Mary and Remus looked at each other with amusement and followed them.

* * *

"Favorite colour?"

"Blue. Favorite food?"

"Treacle tart."

"That's not a food, that's a dessert!"

"It is to a food!"

"Girls," Miss Box admonished as she arrived in the corner of the classroom where Tracy and Patricia were sitting.

"It's a dessert," Patricia insisted.

"Desserts are foods, Patricia," Miss Box said.

Patricia opened her mouth to argue, but then realized two things. One, she was about to argue with her teacher, and two, Miss Box was right, desserts were foods. She turned red and looked down at the floor.

"Sorry Tracy."

Tracy looked surprised. "What're you saying sorry for?"

Patricia looked at her."I was wrong, and you were right. I'm apologizing for continuing to argue with you."

Tracy didn't know how to respond. Patricia was apologizing to her for an argument that had lasted barely ten seconds. That didn't make any sense to her. Miss Box was also confused by Patricia response, but she shook it off quickly.

"That's very mature of you Patricia. Now, both of you come and meet some of your classmates."

Tracy and Patricia, by the virtue of Patricia's regained excitement, had been the first students to arrive in their classroom. While Miss Box talked to Mary and Remus, the two girls had retreated to a carpeted corner near the rack of picture books. They had then gotten so absorbed in talking that they didn't notice when Mary and Remus left and other students began to arrive.

Tracy bounced ahead of Patricia to the group of three that was sitting on the colourful foam mats in front of the rocking chair.

"Hello, I'm Tracy, and this is my friend Patricia!"

One of the boys moved over so that Tracy and Patricia could sit down.

"I'm William," said the black-haired boy who was now sitting beside Tracy.

"My name's Ava," murmured the only other girl, whose green eyes were pointed downwards shyly.

"I am Lucas Alexander Hale," the second boy announced. "My mummy is the mayor's personal secretary and my daddy is a police officer. What do your parents do?"

Miss Box, pleased with the fact that her latest batch of young charges seemed to be getting along, left the classroom and took her place near the doorway, ready to greet her other students.

"My daddy is a doctor," Tracy told the group. "And my mum volunteers at the library."

"My dad's the warden at the Nest," William said proudly.

Patricia immediately looked at him with excitement. "You're Warden Styles' son? He didn't tell me you were in my class."

William was confused. He had never seen Patricia before in his life, when would she have met his dad? He didn't get a chance to voice his confusion, because Lucas hijacked the conversation.

"What about you?" he asked, pointing first at Ava, and then Patricia. "What do your parent's do?"

Ava turned red. "My granny is a librarian," she said quietly. "And Papa teaches guitar."

Everyone noticed how uncomfortable she had become. Patricia tried to change the subject.

"That's cool. Do you play?"

Ava nodded, her face changing dramatically from bright crimson to flushed pink.

"You're lucky. I haven't gotten a chance to try any instruments."

"I take piano lessons," William said. "What about you, Tracy?"

"I—"

Lucas interrupted. Patricia was starting to become annoyed by him. He acted like he was the only one who could be in charge, and scrambled for control when things didn't go his way.

"What happened to your parents? Are they dead?"

Ava began to turn red again.

"That's not a nice thing to ask, Lucas," Patricia said.

She took Ava's hand and stood up. Tracy followed a split second later. The three girls moved as far away from Lucas as they could while still remaining on the mats, which was admittedly not very far, and sat down with their backs to him.

"Do you like Shakespeare?" Patricia asked after a moment. " _A Midsummer Night's Dream_ is my favorite right now."

Ava's eyes widened. As a librarian's granddaughter she had heard a lot about Shakespeare, and how kids did not like to read it.

"You read Shakespeare?" she asked with surprise.

Patricia smiled lopsidedly. "Well, actually…"

By the time she had finished explaining her slightly complicated process of asking various people at the Nest to explain words that she didn't understand, which was only complicated because she had to explain it without revealing that she lived at the prison, their other fifteen classmates had arrived. Several of them were wiping away tears, but Tracy and William's excitement seemed to spread throughout the group. Miss Box soon found herself sitting in front of a rambunctious class of five-year-olds with bright faces turned to her like leaves seeking sunlight.

"Hello, children," she said with a smile. "As some of you already know, I'm Miss Box, and I will be your teacher for the next two years. Now, as we're all strangers at the moment we are going to play a game. Please make a circle, and then I'll explain…"

* * *

It was a welcome surprise when Ava, Patricia, Tracy and William all ended up sitting at the same little round table. They were the green group, with a mobile of pictures of leaves, green apples, and frogs hanging from the ceiling above them. Lucas was in the orange group, which he complained loudly and bitterly about for a full five minutes because orange wasn't his favorite colour, red was. While the rest of the class got pictures of Actress Annie to colour, Lucas had to sit in the time-out chair in the corner.

His bad mood may have been the reason that he crossed the line during painting, or it may have been because, even at five, he was a complete bullying prat.

They had to take turns at painting because the battered table that they used was only large enough to hold two sheets of paper with the row of cans of paint, two cups of water, and a can of paintbrushes between them. Patricia was a little upset at being paired with Lucas for her turn but she decided not to let it bother her. She had promised Bella, one of the inmates in the woman's half of the prison, that she would make her a painting to put up in her cell. Warden Styles had allowed it, so she wasn't going to break her promise.

She picked out two brushes and dipped one of them into white paint. She painted the outline of a white crescent on her paper, which was the same stuff used for newspapers and therefore not pure white, and carefully filled it in. Lucas had picked up the can of red paint and seemed to be painting wonky circles of different sizes all over his page.

"Her parents must be dead," Lucas said suddenly. "That's why she doesn't want to talk about them."

Patricia ignored him. She swirled her first paintbrush in the cup of water and blotted the water off on a piece of paper towel. She then dipped the second paintbrush in the can of yellow paint and used it to create a sun attached to the crescent moon she had already made.

"Ava's parents," Lucas clarified, though Patricia knew perfectly well who he was talking about. "I'll bet she cries every time she thinks about them. Did you see how red her fact got?"

He smeared red paint gleefully. He was disappointed at not being able to make her cry, his mummy had said that he was going to make all the girls cry, but he at least knew that he had made her upset. Then his paintbrush paused as he seemed to realize something. He turned on Patricia with a gleam in his eye.

" _You_ didn't talk about _your_ parents. Are they dead to?"

Again, Patricia ignored him. She would not tell that awful boy about her sainted parents. She had precious few stories about them, and even fewer memories. They were not something that she would share.

Not getting a reaction, Lucas pressed further. He was sure that he could make this girl cry, the pale, redheaded know-it-all.

"I'll bet they abandoned you! No one who ever had real parents could dress like that."

He was one to talk. Lucas was wearing an absolutely ridiculous tan suit with a little red tie. _She_ bet that his "mummy" had made him wear it. She looked down at her black pinafore dress and clean, new Mary Janes. She couldn't see anything wrong with what she was wearing.

"I'll bet it was because you're a witch," Lucas continued.

Patricia's heart leapt frantically. There weren't any other wizarding families in the area. Lucas had to be a muggle, and muggles didn't know, weren't supposed to know about witches.

"My mummy says all girls with red hair are witches."

Patricia finished her painting, giving the sun-and-moon a squiggly green frame and writing her name in the bottom corner with blue, and went to lay it on the drying table. When she went back to clean up she discovered that Lucas had taken the paintbrushes she had been using, and more besides, dipped them all in black paint and dumped them on the area where she had been working. A puddle of paint was threatening to spill off the table. Miss Box, unfortunately, chose that moment to check on the two painters. She shook her head at the mess.

"Patricia, did you make this mess?"

Patricia shook her head. "No Miss Box. I didn't even use black."

"She did to!" Lucas accused, still clutching the can of red paint. "I saw her!"

"It wasn't me miss, I promise," Patricia said. She did not say that Lucas had done it because she knew that doing that would get her the dreaded name of 'tattle-tale'.

"I didn't do it!" Lucas said quickly, before he could be accused. He hadn't thought that his plan to make Patricia cry could get him in trouble. He had already had one time-out, he didn't want another.

Miss Box looked slowly between the two children. She couldn't show favoritism, but she had to admit that she liked the girl better. She was polite, helpful, and nice to her classmates. The boy complained about nothing and was far too entitled for his own good. Still, she couldn't show favoritism, so she came up with a fair not-really-punishment.

"Well, since neither of you want to confess, both of you will have to clean this up."

Patricia nodded in understanding while Lucas just managed to hold back a groan. To him, having to clean up was worse than having to sit alone in the corner for five minutes.

After Miss Box left for another turn around the classroom, Patricia went to the sink to get the roll of paper towel. When she got back the mess had been added to. A blob of red paint swam in the sea of black. Involuntarily, her eyes started welling up. Lucas noticed and smiled to himself.

"Maybe you should get Cinderava to help you clean that up," he suggested.

Patricia snapped. She felt a release of tension and the can of paint in Lucas' hand erupted. A wave of red flew towards him and drenched him from head to foot, using more paint than could have been in the can at the time. It soaked into his hair, coated his sleeves, and ran under his apron to stain his suit. Not a drop of paint touched Patricia. Lucas screamed and everyone in the room looked at him.

"Oh dear," Miss Box said, surveying the situation. "Patricia and Tracy, please take the hall pass and go get one of the custodians. Their room is just down the hall."

"Are boys with red hair witches to?" Patricia asked Lucas just before Tracy dragged her out of the room. He was too busy rubbing paint out of his eyes to respond.

On the way home, Patricia told Remus what had happened. Then she asked if it had been her that caused the paint to explode.

"Yes, Patricia. That was accidental magic. We've talked about it before, it happens to all magical children."

He smiled at her in the rear-view mirror. "And from what you tell me, it was bound to happen. What that boy did was… uncalled for."

"He deserved it," Patricia said. "He was mean to my friend, and my parents."

"He was," Remus agreed. "Perhaps he's learned his lesson."

Patricia personally thought that being drenched in paint was a poor price to pay for insulting someone's family, but she didn't argue with her Uncle Remus. Instead she asked a question.

"Uncle Remus, do muggles think that everyone with red hair is a witch?"

Remus frowned. "Who told you that...Ah, it was Lucas, wasn't it?"

Patricia nodded.

"That's just an old wives tale; it isn't true, though one of the most brilliant witches I've even known was a redhead."

"But do they really think that Uncle Remus?"

Remus turned the car, which had been borrowed from Warden Styles, into the Nest's staff parking lot.

"Some of them," he said carefully. "But not all." Patricia nodded in understanding.

Remus locked the car and the two of them walked along the wall to the gate, where Warden Styles was waiting.

"So, how was school?" he asked as he accepted his car keys from Remus.

Patricia gave a toothy grin."Magic!"

Remus had a hard time trying not to laugh.

Two weeks later, Luacs' hair was still stained red. His mummy was not happy.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

 _July 13, 1987- Bowen Residence, Bradford, Yorkshire, England_

It was completely obvious that Tracy's best friends had collaborated on their presents for her ninth birthday.

Patricia had gotten her a brand new astronomy book, which was sort of a given considering that Tracy had been obsessed with everything to do with stars and outer space for the past three years. Then she had opened her gift from William, an amazing collapsible telescope that screwed onto a tripod that was almost as tall as her, and the present that Ava had given her, a metal globe showing all the constellations and a flat star chart, and known for sure that the three of them had planned this.

"Too bad you couldn't have a sleepover," commented one of the girls from her gymnastics class, "we could have stargazed."

On her parents' insistence, Tracy's party was not small. Along with Patricia, William, and Ava, there were three girls from gymnastics, four kids from Sunday school, and one daughter of her mum's friend. They were all rubbing shoulders tolerably well, but Tracy would have been happier having just her three friends there. Tracy's two older brothers had gone to watch a rounders game with their uncle, or else they would have been in attendance to.

After she finished opening presents and everyone else was done admiring them, her mum and her mum's friend ushered everyone out into the back garden. There they lay down a picnic blanket and waited for the arrival of the traveling zoo that Tracy's parents had booked. While they waited the kids kicked around a football and pulled single cards from the tarot deck Patricia had gotten for her birthday, though Mrs. Duncan-Smith, Mrs. Bowen's friend, quickly put a stop to the latter.

The zoo arrived in a green van with the words ' _Cassandra's Creatures'_ painted on the sides in large yellow letters and in smaller blue letters the slogan ' _Let the zoo come to you'_. Mr. Bowen directed them to the back of the house, and the kids stopped playing to stare at the man and woman bringing large boxes of metal, wood, and plastic into the garden. The seven boxes stood tantalizingly around the picnic blanket until the woman, Cassandra herself, announced with great enthusiasm that they were ready to begin.

"Now," Cassandra said with a smile once all twelve kids had sat down "I'm going to start by introducing you to a very good friend of mine. His name is Albert, and I think he will be very happy to meet all of you."

She took the lid off of a blue plastic container, reached in with both hands, and pulled out a large, two-toned brown snake. One of the girls from gymnastics squealed in fright and scampered away from the reptile. She turned the circle that they were sitting in into more of the shape of a bird's head.

"Albert is a royal python." Cassandra told them. "They're also called ball pythons because they tend to curl up into a ball when they're frightened. Albert won't hurt you, he doesn't bite and he's the laziest snake I've ever met!"

As she was saying this Albert simply hung lethargically from her hands, occasionally flicking his tongue out to taste the air. Cassandra told them that they could hold Albert if they wanted to. She brought him around the circle of eight and nine-year-olds, all of whom took the chance to hold a real live snake, even the girl who had screamed when she saw him.

"You know, he is kind of cute," the girl admitted when she handed him back to Cassandra.

Albert flicked out his tongue and looked almost as if he was smiling at the girl.

As William cradled Albert in his hands, the snake made his first unassisted movement since he had been taken out of his box. He turned his head and rested it on William's knee, looking in the direction of Patricia, who was the only child yet to hold him. Following Cassandra's instructions, William gently stroked Albert's head, and Albert tickled the tips of his fingers with his tongue.

"You're a cool little guy, aren't you?"

"Yes, he is," Patricia agreed.

Cassandra took Albert back from William. She told Patricia how to hold him, though she had already done the same for the other children, and then handed Albert to the little redhead. The snake touched his jaw to Patricia's left wrist. Then, without any other warning, he slid up her arm in one smooth motion and planted his head on her collarbone. The rest of the group looked surprised, but not as surprised as Cassandra, whose eyebrows were disappearing into her hairline.

"Well," she said after a moment of stunned silence "it looks like someone has made a new friend."

Albert flicked his tongue out sharply, as if he were saying "Gee, what was your first clue?"

Patricia tilted her head and looked Albert straight in the eye. She could have sworn that he winked at her, but she knew that snakes didn't have eyelids.

Tracy noticed the soft look that her friend was giving the reptile. She asked Cassandra, "Could she hold onto him for a little bit longer?"

If it was even possible, Cassandra looked more surprised. "I suppose so.," she decided. "James can introduce you to our next animal friend."

The man came over from where he had been leaning against the fence. "I'd be glad to, Cassandra."

James grinned and reached into one of the other plastic containers. "This little girl is an absolutely beautiful creature. Dee is a common chameleon and she has quite a few special talents. Does anyone know what they are?"

Albert had to be put back in his box after James finished talking about Dee. Then they got to see a large raccoon, a snowy owl, a little brown bat, a fluffy guinea pig, and a white ferret that they walked about the grass on a leash.

"That was fun," Ava said quietly after Cassandra and James had packed up and left. "The guinea pig was cute."

Ava had gotten to hold the guinea pig in her lap and feed it a carrot while some of the other girls were walking the ferret. It was undoubtedly her favorite animal of the bunch.

"Do you think your granny would let us get you one?" William asked. "She did let you take Hammy home over the break."

Hammy was their class hamster, who enjoyed tearing up his nest every other day and gnawing for hours on a single piece of apple.

Ava shrugged. "Maybe. You'd have to ask her."

"I think we will," Patricia decided, linking her arm with Ava's. "It'll be easier than getting Uncle Remus to let me get a snake."

"Why wouldn't he let you get a snake?" William wondered. "You're plenty responsible enough to take care of it on your own."

"He doesn't like snakes." She grinned rakishly. "Now an owl, that would be a different story…"

William and Ava both began to laugh at the suggestion of having an owl for a pet.

"An…owl," William said between chuckles. "That'd…be…dead…useful…wouldn't…it?"

"Oh yes," Patricia said seriously. "They carry the mail and everything."

She winked at her friends, and her smile broadened when Tracy came over to them and asked what the joke was.

"Patricia was just singing the praises of pet owls," replied Ava, who had managed to stop laughing. "She says that they'll carry mail for you."

"They also do wonders at keeping down the rat population," Patricia pointed out.

All four of them burst out laughing again. From the back door, Mrs. Duncan-Smith looked at them disapprovingly.

"It's time for ice-cream," she called. "Come inside and wash up!"

The children tramped into the house and proceeded to thoroughly make a mess of themselves while they pushed into the tiny powder room to scrub their hands. They eventually ended up sitting back outside on the grass with their ice-creams, and the party slowly became smaller as parents came to pick up their children. Patricia was one of the last to leave. She waved happily back at Tracy as her uncle's car rolled away.

"Happy Birthday!" she shouted again, just before they disappeared around the corner.

Tracy went to bed that night utterly exhausted but extremely happy. Her mother smiled to herself as she and her husband washed the dishes. Her daughter and her friends had enjoyed themselves, and that made every bit of mess completely worth it.

* * *

 _July 14, 1987- Duncan-Smith Residence, Bradford, Yorkshire, England_

Mary Bowen should have known something was up the minute Connie had invited her to tea. They had just seen each other the day before for one thing, and the fact that they _never_ had tea together for another. Connie Duncan-Smith only hosted formal teas for her well-to-do acquaintances, not for the daughter of her mother's maid who she had been forced to play with all through her childhood, and still had to call a friend to keep her mother happy.

Mary adjusted her year-old hat, pulled imaginary wrinkles out of her gloves, and rapped smartly on the door of Collwater, the large, imposing house that Connie and her husband, Robert, lived in. Collwater had been in Robert's family for generations, and he was well known to say that he would sell the house when hell froze over. The butler answered the door and escorted her to the tearoom, really, they had a room just for serving tea, where Connie was already waiting.

"Mary, darling!"

Connie rose from her chair and gave Mary a kiss on each cheek. They sat down and the maid served the tea. Mary sipped uncomfortably from her thin china cup. The two of them were silent. Then Connie abruptly put down her cup of tea.

"Mary, dear, we really must talk about your daughter."

Mary almost dropped her cup and just barely got it on the saucer without spilling anything.

"My daughter? Why on earth would you want to talk about Tracy?"

Connie blinked slowly as if _she_ didn't understand what Mary was talking about.

"Why, her acquaintances of course. The Styles boy is a good choice, and the two Marcy girls, and of course my dear Wendy, but the rest of them really must go."

Mary did her best not to glare. Who was Connie to choose her daughter's friends?

"There's nothing wrong with Tracy's _friends_ , Connie. I for one am not one to choose who her children can be friends with. They are all nice, well behaved kids, and they all take care of each other." Connie pursed her lips.

"That Stimpson girl, did you see what she was doing yesterday? Going around with that heathen card deck. She wanted to give my Wendy a horrible grim reaper card before I put a stop to her nonsense."

Mary frowned. That didn't make sense. Patricia always left the Death card out whenever she did any sort of reading, especially the lighthearted one card interpretation she was doing the day before. Mary had even seen her take that card out of her deck and put it in her skirt pocket before she let anyone pull a card. She opened her mouth to say that Connie must have been mistaken, but Connie was going on like a verbal express train. She was quite incensed about the entire, as she saw it, 'scandalous affair'.

"Do you know who she reminds me of? That boy that my sister Yvonne was telling me about. What was his name? Porter? He's a horrible little boy who's the nephew of her friend, Petunia Dursley. He's done nothing but make trouble since he moved in, and he's done his best to get Petunia's son, Dudley, into as much trouble as possible. It's quite a crucible for the Dursleys, but you can't choose your family I suppose."

Connie picked up her cup and drank a bit of tea, both to moisten her mouth and to give time for what she had said to sink in. Mary looked scandalized.

"Connie, you haven't even met the boy!"

Connie raised one slim eyebrow, something that Mary had never managed to accomplish.

"Are you suggesting that Yvonne lied, to me?"

"Oh, certainly not!" Mary exclaimed. Connie was very sensitive about the integrity of her sister, who was a notorious gossip. "I just think you should meet a person yourself before you presume to judge them."

"Humph," Connie raised her cup to her lips. "Well, maybe the boy isn't as bad as she said, but that girl, Mary, that girl is trouble, I can see it in her eyes. You mark my words, Mary; if you don't get your daughter away from her the little minx will have her walking the streets in red shoes before they turn twenty."

This time Mary didn't almost spill her tea, she completely upset the table and caused the entire pot of tea to spill on the floor. Thankfully nothing was broken, though the rug to the side of the table would probably be stained beyond hope of cleaning. That didn't matter to Connie as she absolutely hated that rug.

"Connie!"

The maid who had been standing in the corner immediately found a cloth and began sopping up the lukewarm tea while Mary sat staring at Connie in shock.

"How could you say such a thing? She's just a little girl!"

"A girl who lives with her uncle in a cottage barely fit for a dog." Connie sniffed.

She lifted her foot off the floor so that the maid could mop up the tea under the table. "It's outrageous."

"Connie, Remus Lupin is a perfectly respectable man," Mary berated. "And he dotes on Patricia."

"He's a prison guard, my dear. I suppose you heard about what happened to Charles Turpin last week? He went and got completely drunk, and then somehow got it into his head that his wife was still alive. He walked all over town calling for her until he passed out on the steps of the police station, and he left his daughter alone at home."

"Connie!"

The subject gradually came around to less damaging gossip, but Mary still left Collwater seriously wondering why she kept up her acquaintance with that woman. Of course she did not make her daughter break off her friendship with Patricia Stimpson, though she did make very sure that Connie would never find out about their get togethers. It was difficult, but with Mr. Lupin's help she managed quite well.

After a week she didn't have to worry about that anymore, though it was for quite a sad reason. Connie and Robert were selling their house and moving to London, but it wasn't because hell had frozen over (even though it probably had after they decided to sell). Wendy Duncan-Smith had been run down by a car as she crossed the street with her nanny. The nanny had gotten away with a few broken bones, but poor Wendy had died on the way to the hospital. At the funeral, Connie had been inconsolable, and she held onto her husband while she sobbed uncontrollably through the whole thing. The next day Collwater was put up for sale. Surprisingly, it sold rather quickly, though the people who bought it didn't move in until months later. Then the Duncan-Smith's went to London. Their furniture was cleared out, their artwork was taken down and their large staff was dismissed, starting with the nanny.


	5. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER TO END ALL DISCLAIMERS** (because, seriously, they are annoying): I, Cynder2013, do not own any canon _Harry Potter_ characters. They, along with the original story-lines, belong to the undisputedly awesome J. K. Rowling.

* * *

Chapter 4

 _Passages from_ British Wizarding Houses of the Twentieth Century-4th Edition _by Joan Vesta (published 1983 by M.L. Books), read by Patricia Stimpson at the age of ten, does not include notes made by her_

 **The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black**

 _Coat of Arms:_ (described from top to bottom) _Skull with laurel wreath above red and white shield bisected horizontally with black chevron, armored hand holding wand and black stars in red section, three black ravens overt in white section_ (pictured)

 _Motto:_ _Toujours Pur_ (Always Pure)

 _The Black family is one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight (see Appendix A). Notable family members include Phineas Nigellus Black, a former Hogwarts headmaster and the most loathed headmaster to date, Licorus Black, the inventor of the Blood-Replenishing potion, and Phoebe Black, who was one of the last true dragon tamers._

 _The Blacks are a well-noted Dark family and most branches of the family were on the side of Voldemort during the time his Death Eaters were active. Such members were Regulus Arcturus Black, who died in 1979 at the age of eighteen, Sirius Orion Black, who remains in Azkaban after being sent there after betraying James and Lily Potter to Voldemort and murdering Peter Pettigrew, and Bellatrix Lestrange née Black, who also remains in Azkaban._

 _At the time of this book's printing the only member of the Black family that is alive and not in Azkaban is Walburga Black, mother of Regulus and Sirius. Every member of the Black family has been educated at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and all of them have been in Slytherin except for Sirius Black, who was a Gryffindor. The Black family is rumored to execute their house-elves once they have become too old to carry tea trays and then mount the severed heads on a wall of their mansion, but these rumors are unproven._

 _For more on the Black family see_ A History of the Ancient and Noble Houses _by Horace E.F. Slughorn._

 _For more on Voldemort and Death Eaters see_ The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts _by Maurice Copperfield._

 **House Jordan**

 _Coat of Arms: None_

 _Motto: None_

 _The Jordan family emigrated to Britain from Uganda in 1968. At the time the family included Dejen Jordan, his wife Eshe, and their three sons, Kato, Kirabo, and David. It is currently comprised of David Jordan, a wizard, and Asha Jordan, a Muggle, and their son, Lee Jordan, who was born on October 31_ _st_ _, 1977 in St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. Lee Jordan is slated to go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, just like his father did. Kato and Kirabo were killed in 1977 by Death Eaters. They were twenty-seven years old._

 _For more on foreign wizarding families see_ Wizarding Cultures of the World, Volume 3 _by Ida Laura Pfeiffer._

 **The Noble and Most Ancient House of Lestrange**

 _Coat of Arms: Black and gold shield containing family name written in gold from bottom to top_ (pictured)

 _Motto:_ _Seulement les Forts Survivent_ (Only the Strong Survive)

 _The Lestrange family is one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight (see Appendix A).Overall this family is one of the darkest in Britain with most members being highly skilled in expressly banned magic such as Blood Magic and the Unforgivable Curses. Such magic was used by Bellatrix, Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange, known Death Eaters, during their murder of the Stimpson family and their later torture of Alice and Frank Longbottom. All three are now residing in Azkaban. One notable member of this family is Radolphus Cola Lestrange, a former Minister for Magic who attempted to close down the Department of Mysteries before resigning from the position in 1841._

 _For more on the Lestrange family see_ A History of the Ancient and Noble Houses _by Horace E.F. Slughorn._

 _For more on magic banned in Britain see_ 1001 Spells that Will Get You Sent to Azkaban _by Ida Specter._

 _For more on Voldemort and Death Eaters see_ The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts _by Maurice Copperfield._

 **House Lupin**

 _Coat of Arms: None_

 _Motto: None_

 _The Lupin family is one of the smallest wizarding families in Britain consisting of only one member, Remus John Lupin. His father, Lyall Lupin, was a world-renowned expert on Non-Human Spirituous Apparitions and his mother, Hope, was a Muggle who worked in what is called "in-sure-ants". Remus Lupin attended Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry as a Gryffindor student from 1971 to 1978. He is believed to be registered as either a werewolf or a partial Animagus, though as both registries went missing in1977 it is impossible to confirm which._

 _For more on Animagus transformations see_ Walking on the Wild Side: A Guide to Animagus Transformations and Other Forms of Self-Transfiguration _by Honoria Dumbledore._

 **The Noble House of Potter**

 _Coat of Arms: White and red shield with a grey stag at gaze supported by red dragon on left and white unicorn on right_ (pictured)

 _Motto:_ _ad caelos volans_ (Flying to the heavens)

 _There is far too much to write about the Potters. The most well-known Potter is Harry James Potter, who is rumored to be the cause of Voldemort's defeat on October 31_ _st_ _, 1981. He disappeared that night and hasn't been seen since. His parents were Lily Evans Potter and James Charles Potter, who were killed protecting him._

 _For more on the Potter family see_ A History of the Ancient and Noble Houses _by Horace E.F. Slughorn._

 **House Stimpson**

 _Coat of Arms: Blue and green shield with adder stone and green snake rampant_ (pictured)

 _Motto: Be Aware of Possibility_

 _The Stimpson family was formed in 1976 with the marriage of Bulgarian pureblood Stanislav Stefanov and Greek pureblood Pythia Floros. The new couple chose to take an entirely new name when they were wed and they legally became Stanislav and Pythia Stimpson in November of 1976. Stanislav was educated at the Durmstrang Institute and Pythia was in Slytherin House at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. After her graduation Pythia went on to become a well-known seer, while her husband was one of only two Rune Masters in Britain at the time. Unfortunately both Stanislav and Pythia were murdered by Death Eaters on October 31_ _st_ _, 1979. They are survived by Pythia's two sisters, her mother Kalliope, Stanislav's brother, Blagun, and his parents, Filip and Gabriela. Their daughter, Patricia, went missing at the time of the murder and is assumed dead._

 _For more on foreign wizarding families see_ Wizarding Cultures of the World, Volume 3 _by Ida Laura Pfeiffer._

 _For more on Voldemort and Death Eaters see_ The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts _by Maurice Copperfield._

 **The Most Ancient House of Weasley**

 _Coat of Arms: Red shield with yellow weasel rampant_ (not pictured)

 _Motto: fide, fiducia, familia_ (Faith, Trust, Family)

 _There is even more to write about the Weasleys than the Potters. They are part of the Sacred Twenty-Eight (see Appendix A), but they deplore their inclusion on the list, which has caused them to be labeled as "blood traitors" by many pureblood families. They are one of the largest wizarding families with the current generation including no less than 20 children, all of which are male. The Weasleys are noted for their distinguishing red hair and solid devotion to Light magic. Notable Weasleys include Tessie Weasley, an avid adventurer who battled Manticores and was adopted by sirens, and Arthur Weasley, who drafted the Muggle Protection Act._

 _For more on the Weasley family see_ A History of the Ancient and Noble Houses _by Horace E.F. Slughorn._

* * *

 _September 9_ _th_ _, 1988-_ _Raven's Nest Maximum Security Prison, Yorkshire County, England_

The radio clipped to Remus' belt crackled. He had just finished his round of the men's wing and had been heading towards the locker room so that he could change out of his uniform and go pick Patricia up from school. As a treat for her birthday, and to alleviate her disappointment at not yet receiving her Hogwarts letter, Remus had planned to take her to Diagon Alley for ice-cream at Fortescue's and to buy her a strong owl so that she could send letters to her mother's and father's family. He hoped that whatever he was being called for wouldn't spoil their plans.

" _Remus?"_ the radio cracked again. Remus unclipped the radio and spoke to Charles Turpin, who was on the other end.

"Yes Charles?"

" _There's a lady out here asking about Patricia. Could you come talk to her?"_ Charles was on duty guarding the gate, which was a position that had been created since Patricia had been left there. It was also a good position for Charles since it forced him to not show up to work drunk, which he had done once or twice.

Remus held down the button on the side of his radio and replied, "Give me ten minutes to get out of my uniform."

 _"Roger. See you in a bit."_

Remus hurried to the locker room and quickly changed from his uniform into the grey suit that his coworkers teased him good-naturedly about wearing all the time. He hurried because he felt sure that the lady at the gate was from the wizarding world, specifically Hogwarts. Or perhaps he was just strongly hoping that that was the case. Either way it wasn't nine minutes before he arrived at the security check, nagged the men running it to hurry up, and then was out of the prison before they could say "You're clear to go."

"Remus Lupin?" the short blond woman waiting at the gate, who looked uncomfortable in her short blue dress, asked with shock when he emerged. It took a few seconds, but Remus recognized the woman as a Ravenclaw girl who had been two years older than him when he was at Hogwarts. It took a few more seconds to realize that she had been Head Girl and another couple to recall her name.

"Bathsheda Babbling?" The woman nodded.

"So, I guess you know each other." Charles muttered.

"We went to the same school." Remus told him. Charles nodded in understanding. The two wizards looked at each other. "I was just about to go pick up Patricia." Remus said suddenly. "Won't you join me?"

Bathsheda had tempered her surprise and merely said, "Of course." before Remus led the way to the staff parking lot.

"Professor McGonagall was very worried when she saw the address that was written on Ms. Stimpson's letter." Bathsheda said once they had gotten into Remus' car. "Unfortunately none of the staff could be spared until today." She flinched as the car's engine started up with a roar.

"You're a teacher." Remus commented as he turned out of the parking lot. "What do you teach?"

"Runes." Bathsheda replied. "I took over when Professor Osborne died last year." She looked out the window for a few moments and then asked, "Mr. Lupin, how did Ms. Stimpson end up living at a maximum security prison in the Muggle world?"

Remus told her about how Patricia had been left at the gate of the prison the night her parents had been killed. He mentioned the letter that had been left with her that influenced the Muggles into raising her, and that had turned into a letter for him when he arrived there. He then assured her that there was no need to worry about Patricia's safety, and that she was very well taken care of by all of the prison staff.

"Can I assume that you brought her letter with you?" Bathsheda nodded and patted the small purse that she was carrying, which Remus suspected had an Undetectable Extension Charm on it since a Hogwarts letter wouldn't be able to fit in the purse unless it was folded several times. "Good. She was very disappointed when it didn't come."

"Any magical child would be." Bathsheda said lightly.

Remus pulled up to the kerb across from Patricia's school, shifted the gear the neutral, and turned off the car. He looked around at all of the other cars that were parked in the street and snaking through the school parking lot, and realized that they had just gotten there on time. On cue, the bell rang. Bathsheda flinched again. Remus forced himself to not shake his head. It seemed that he had forgotten how most wizards felt completely uncomfortable around everything Muggle.

He looked over Bathsheda's head and surveyed the crowd of students that was rushing out of the school like a tidal wave. With that day being Friday it seemed as if every child was trying to get out of the building as fast as possible. He quickly spotted a familiar head of red hair. "There she is." He got out of the car and stood beside it so that Patricia would be able to spot them.

"Oh!" Bathsheda gasped when she saw Patricia. "She looks exactly like Pythia!"

Patricia walked up to the car after detouring to the crosswalk so that she could cross the street safely. She eyed Bathsheda with interest, but she spoke to Remus first.

"What was the first gift that you gave me?"

"A book of Greek myths." he answered. "What was the first gift that you gave me?"

"A purple unicorn form one of my colouring books." Having satisfied the security question requirements, Patricia looked back into the car at Bathsheda. "Who's that?"

"That is Professor Babbling." he told her. Her eyes widened.

"From…?" she didn't even finish the sentence, hardly daring to hope.

"From Hogwarts," Remus finished for her. "with your letter."

He didn't think he'd ever seen a bigger smile on her face.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

 _September 9_ _th_ _, 1988- On the road to Remus Lupin's cottage, Yorkshire County, England_

When Professor Babbling handed the heavy parchment envelope to Patricia all she could do for the first moments after was stare at it. Her name, _Ms P. Stimpson_ , was written in violet ink in a looping, feathery hand. " _The Storage Closet off the Staff Room, Raven's Nest Maximum Security Prison, Yorkshire County."_ was written the same way underneath. She slowly flipped the envelope over and beheld the purple wax seal with the four animal Hogwarts crest pressed into it. She reverently ran her fingertips over the badger, lion, snake, and eagle.

"You know, that's not going to open itself." Remus joked as he changed gears. "It's not a Howler."

"You can't say you weren't the same when you got your letter." Professor Babbling chided.

Patricia wiggled her thumbnail under the seal and pried it away from the flap of the envelope. She slid the point of the flap out from under the loosened seal and carefully took out the letter, which was the same heavy parchment as the envelope. She unfolded it and read:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL _of_ WITCHCRAFT _and_ WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

 _(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,  
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)_

Dear Ms Stimpson,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

Patricia began to smile. She started reaching into the envelope to take out the book list but was stopped by the jerking of Remus parking the car. "Last stop," he called "everybody out!" Patricia tumbled out of the back of the car in a whirlwind of excited paper and fabric. She ran up to the door of her uncle's house, waited for a few seconds, and then ran back to the car. She just couldn't bring herself to stand still.

"Are we still going to go to Diagon Ally today?" she asked Remus, who was helping Professor Babbling out of the car. She had really been looking forwards to the trip, but they would have to go again during the year to get her school supplies. It would make more sense to just make one trip since they had to take the Knight Bus to London.

Both Patricia and Remus loathed taking the Knight Bus. There was a reason that they only took one trip together to Diagon Ally every year.

"Of course we are!" he exclaimed immediately. "You have school supplies to buy. We'll have to make another trip for potions ingredients though. I don't think Styles will be happy to have rotting newts lying around." Patricia giggled at the thought of William's easygoing father turning his nose up at decomposing amphibians. Well, he had to draw the line somewhere.

"Do you mind if I join you?" Professor Babbling asked hesitantly. "This took less time than I thought and I do have to pick up a new set of rune stones." Remus nodded to indicate that that would be quite alright. Patricia looked up at the blond woman in sudden awe.

"You teach Runes?" she asked, her eyes wide. Professor Babbling smiled down at the girl.

"I do. Your dad and I worked together on the written work for our apprenticeships." Patricia's eyes would have widened more if it was physically possible.

"You knew my dad?"

"And your mum." Professor Babbling replied wistfully. "We were friends all though school. You look exactly like her, all but your eyes; you have your dad's eyes."

Patricia was looking at Professor Babbling like she was Father Christmas and the holiday had come early. Remus chuckled to himself as he unlocked the door. Patricia wouldn't want to be separated from Bathsheda now that she knew that the professor had known her parents, Remus himself had precious few stories of the pair, and most of them were centered on the war effort or the pranks that the Marauders had played on Pythia while they were in school. "Come put your school stuff inside, Patricia." Remus ordered. "Then we can leave."

The redheaded whirlwind raced into the house, dropped her bag on one of the kitchen chairs, and hurried back outside with her Hogwarts letter still gripped tightly in her hand. All this was accomplished in less than five seconds, and Remus wondered if her accidental magic was getting ideas from those Muggle superhero magazines that Charles Turpin sometimes gave to her.

Remus flicked his wrist and his wand shot out of its holster. "We usually take the Knight Bus." he told Bathsheda apologetically. She nodded, but all the blood drained from her face. Patricia noticed this and stood on her toes so that she could whisper to the teacher.

"We don't like the Knight Bus either." Professor Babbling smiled shakily.

"I don't believe any wizard likes the Knight Bus."

Remus held out his wand arm and stumbled backwards to avoid being bowled over by the bang that signaled the Knight Bus' arrival. A bespectacled wizard stood on the steps of the purple bus.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for any stranded witch or wizard—Oh, hello Mr Lupin." The wizard tipped his hat to Remus. "Two to the Leaky Cauldron?"

"Good afternoon Ernie." Remus replied. "No, not two; three to the Leaky Cauldron please."

Ernie looked over Remus's shoulder at Bathsheda and Patricia. "Cousin Bats!" he exclaimed. "Shouldn't you be at school?"

"I'm on my break, Ernie." Professor Babbling swept past her second cousin one removed and deposited eleven Sickles in the farebox. She chose a seat on the first level of the bus that had two unoccupied seats near it while Remus paid his and Patricia's fares. Remus was grateful that Bathsheda had walked through Ernie, it meant that he didn't have to fumble through his coat pockets looking for money, which he didn't have, for her fare. Sure his job paid well, but he had to spend a lot of the money on Muggle things for himself and Patricia, and he couldn't get to Gringotts often enough to have a steady flow of wizarding money.

Just as the two of them sat down the bus shot off with a dangerous lurch. Everyone aboard gripped onto one of the poles or the edge of a window so that they didn't go flying through the windshield.

"I hate the Knight Bus." a wrinkly old witch mumbled.

One heart-stopping stomach-churning ride later the bus screeched to a halt in front of the Leaky Cauldron. About half of the passengers stumbled off the bus, several of them looking like they wanted to kiss the ground, and then it was gone with a sudden bang.

"I swear that ride gets worse every time." Remus complained as they entered the pub. Tom, the barkeeper, quickly noticed the arrival of the large group and began doling out the Anti-Nausea Potion that he kept double-stocked behind the counter. There were many sighs of relief as much near-vomiting were averted. The rest of the Knight Bus riders dispersed to wherever they were going. Tom ducked under the counter and put away the potion bottle and the unused shot glasses.

"Anything for you Remus? Miss Babbling? Patricia?" he asked when he popped back into view.

"No thank you Tom." Patricia said politely. Professor Babbling shook her head.

"We're going straight to the Alley today Tom." Remus said proudly. "Patricia just got her Hogwarts letter." Tom grinned.

"Well it is a day, isn't it?" He nodded to Patricia. "I'll have a small Gillywater for you when you get back, free of charge."

"Thank you Tom."

The three of them made their way through to the back of the pub to the disguised Diagon Alley entrance. Professor Babbling tapped the wall and the bricks rearranged themselves into an arch with the words _Diagon Alley_ written in gold above it. Professor Babbling was the first through the arch, with Remus and Patricia following close after. Patricia braced herself for the extreme awe that she always felt upon entering the Alley.

Left and right there were shops selling everything a young witch could imagine, from books of runic spells at Flourish and Blotts to biting notebooks at Scribbulus Writing Instruments. Owls hooted and cats yowled at the Magical Menagerie, TerrorTours' clicking printing press churned out tickets to Castle Dracula, and a wizard ran down the street screaming as he tried to escape from one of Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop's hopping teakettles, which was spewing boiling water at him from its spout.

Buildings tilted alarmingly in ways that would have Muggles running for cover and telephoning the authorities. Several booths were set up alongside the more amicable shops, their colourful canopies shading wealths of trinkets, foods, and small plants. There was one witch with a tableful of rare cacti who was drawing quite a large crowd. Above everything else Gringotts Wizarding Bank gleamed bright marble white and shimmering golden bronze.

No matter how many times she went there (four and counting) Patricia was always stunned by Diagon Alley. Remus knew this so he put a hand on her shoulder and steered her out of the archway and towards the bank.

"We have to visit our vaults." Remus told Bathsheda. "Could we meet you at Flourish and Blotts?" Bathsheda looked from Remus to Patricia. Then she looked back at Remus and nodded.

Remus and Patricia walked to Gringotts. Patricia had snapped out of her blind wonder and was able to actually walk on her own. Remus always thought that she would get used to Diagon Alley, but when you were a kid who only went there once a year there was always a lot to draw your attention.

As they climbed the steps to the bank Patricia mentally recited the poem that was engraved on the building's silver inside doors. She had memorized it years ago, and she used it to remind herself that no matter the circumstances even thinking of stealing from goblins was a bad idea. It was also just a nice rhyme.

While they were waiting for their turn to see the teller Patricia played with her vault key, which she still wore on a chain around her neck as they only lived around Muggles and no Muggle would bother trying to steal it, and watched one of the goblins as he weighed uncut emeralds the size of small bricks against pound weights.

"Next!" a goblin called. Remus walked up to his desk with Patricia half a step behind him. "Names?" the goblin asked, looking from Remus to Patricia.

"Remus Lupin and Patricia Stimpson, we have to make withdrawals from the Lupin and Stimpson vaults and a deposit to the Lupin vault."

The goblin, whose name was Sharpshard according to the nameplate on his desk, shuffled through some papers and stood up. "Follow me." he ordered. Sharpshard walked behind the counter to a door at the back of the room. He looked back and scowled when he realized that the wizard and witch-child were still pushing their way across the room. "Hurry up!"

"Mister Sharpshard, where are we going?" the witch-child asked him once they had caught up.

"To see your account manager." Sharpshard said. "According to our records you turned eleven at noon today and that means that—" What on earth was he doing? He was almost acting…nice. He choked. "They can explain everything to you. Come on!"

Sharpshard led them through the door and into a hallway lined with more doors that led to offices, storage closets, and other strange rooms that could only be explained by magic. The hallway had many goblins walking to and from places, more goblins than Patricia had ever seen before. What surprised her most was that there were some _female_ goblins going about their work, several of them carrying around metal baskets containing grey machines that Patricia was almost sure were mechanical calculators. She just barely stopped herself from staring around in amazement.

The hallway itself was clean white with a grey stone floor that was worn smooth from years of use. Sharpshard walked down to the end of the hallway. The crowd of goblins instantly parted for him, though it was more from fright than politeness, and he was able to quickly advance to a door with a revolving green eye in the centre of it. He rapped smartly on the door, which opened itself after a few seconds.

"The Stimpson girl for you." he growled into the room. He then turned to Remus and Patricia and jerked his head to indicate that they should enter.

"Thank you Sharpshard." Remus said.

"Yes, thank you Mister Sharpshard." Patricia chimed. Sharpshard gave a noncommittal grunt and marched back to the front of the bank.

Remus entered the office first and barely blinked when he saw the goblin woman sitting behind the heavy stone desk. "Good afternoon Miss…?"

"Yellowfang." the goblin supplied. "Mister…?"

"Lupin. I'm Miss Stimpson's… guardian."

"Unofficially." Yellowfang smiled. "Please, take a seat."

Patricia and Remus sat down on the two chairs that were more suited to the stature of goblins than humans. Remus struggled for a moment with not kneeing himself in the face and Yellowfang was polite enough to both not mention his struggle and wait until he was done moving before she began to speak.

"Now, Miss Stimpson, as I'm sure you're aware you can officially claim heirship to House Stimpson once you turn eleven. As your parents are deceased you will also have to appoint someone to take care of your finances until you are of age." Patricia felt like smacking herself. Obviously this meeting would be about that. She had completely forgotten about the fact that she could actually become heir and then head of her family. She had been reading too much about stuffy British pureblood families, where only males could inherit.

"Can't Un— Mister Lupin keep taking care of my finances?" she asked. Her parents had given Remus restricted access to the family vault that kicked in when he had started taking care of her (courtesy of her dad's rune skills, and the goblins wanting to pull one over on the purebloods) and that included him receiving her bank statements and taking care of investments.

Yellowfang gave a sly smile. It was a well-known fact among Gringotts goblins that rich purebloods were horrible at managing money. The Stimpson vault had been quite full when the elder Stimpsons were killed, but that wealth had been mostly books, jewelry, and expensive trinkets, not money. Under Remus Lupin's management however the Stimpson monetary wealth had grown exponentially and there hadn't been even a hint of him trying to siphon money away for his own use like a pureblood would. If he had been stealing, something Yellowfang found doubtful, than he was smart enough to do it in a way that didn't tip off any of the goblins in accounting, which was also a feat that the soft purebloods wouldn't be able to manage.

"Of course, but we would have to create documentation to make it official." The eleven-year-old blinked at her and Yellowfang offered to mail the documents to her to complete at her leisure. Patricia agreed and they went on to discuss what she would have to do as heir, which wasn't a lot, and what she would be inheriting, which was again not a lot. All that was left of anything that the Stimpsons had owned was in their vault.

"Would you like to officially claim your position as heir?" Yellowfang asked finally. Patricia looked at Remus, who hadn't said anything through the entire conversation, and then back to Yellowfang, who was maintaining a neutral expression.

"I would." she said shakily. She cleared her throat and repeated herself more firmly, "I would."

Yellowfang opened a drawer and typed a code into the stone keypad that was sitting there. The stone glowed briefly and then vanished to be replaced with a small hinged box. She pulled the box out and placed it in front of Patricia, who looked down at the green ouroboros on the lid with veiled nervousness. "Open it." Yellowfang urged.

Patricia unlatched the box and pinched the corners of the lid between her fingers. She lifted the lid to reveal the gold ring nestled in the red velvet interior. Her left hand hovered over the ring and she looked back up at Yellowfang and Remus, who both nodded. She picked up the ring and sild it onto her ring finger. For a moment it rattled on her right hand, but then it gave a shutter and resized itself to fit her finger. The snake that was raised from the flat part of the ring that rested on the back of her finger winked at her with its emerald eye. The adder stone that it was twisted around was smooth black onyx with thin streaks of silver crossing it.

"You'll want to read up on what heir rings do, won't you?" Remus asked with a lopsided smile. Patricia looked at him with a look that plainly asked "Do you know me at all?" Yellowfang chuckled.

"I'm aware that the two of you still have business to attend to," she said after she had controlled her laughter "so I'll call someone to take you down to your vaults."

"Thank you Miss Yellowfang." Patricia said. She handed the ring box back to Yellowfang, who put it back in the drawer, where it disappeared to go back to the Stimpson vault. She then pressed a rune on the underside of her desk that would call a goblin to escort customers. There was another rune that would call a goblin to toss out a rude wizard.

Their system was extremely effective.

* * *

Disclaimer: The form for the Hogwarts letter is not mine, it belongs to J.K. Rowling.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

 _September 9_ _th_ _, 1988- Diagon Alley, London, England_

As usual the ride down to the vaults was equal parts exhilarating, frightening and nauseating, even with the Anti-Nausea potion from the Leaky Cauldron still working. They stopped at the Stimpson vault first. It was in the new section of vaults but it was one of the largest there. Both the Stefanov and Floros families were well-off in their countries of origin and the size of the Stimpson vault reflected that fact.

Every time that Patricia had been to the vault before she had gone straight for the climate-controlled cases of old books. She spent as much time as she could working her way through them, but she had only finished reading one book about using runes for healing. This was because she refused to take the books out of the vault for fear that she'd lose or ruin them. Really it was sensible of her, and she decided that when she was eight, but I think she was really holding herself back.

When she entered the vault this time she looked longingly at the books before taking a moneybag off a hook on the wall and went over to the stacks of coins in a shallow depression in the middle of the floor. "How much do you think I'll need?" she asked Remus.

"Let's have a look at your equipment list." he suggested. Patricia took her Hogwarts letter out of her pocket and pulled the second piece of parchment out of the envelope. She and Remus read:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL _of_ WITCHCRAFT _and_ WIZARDRY

UNIFORM

First-year students will require:

1\. Three sets of plain work robes (black)

2\. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear

3\. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

4\. One winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings)

Please note that all pupil's clothes should carry name tags.

COURSE BOOKS

All students should have a copy of each of the following:

 _The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)_ by Miranda Goshawk

 _A History of Magic_ by Bathilda Bagshot

 _Magical Theory_ by Adalbert Waffling

 _A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration_ by Emeric Switch

 _One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi_ by Phyllida Spore

 _Magical Drafts and Potions_ by Arsenius Jigger

 _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_ by Newt Scamander

 _The Wizard's Guide to Defense Against the Dark Arts_ by Aegle Jinn

OTHER EQUIPMENT

1 wand

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set glass or crystal phials

1 telescope

1 set brass scales

1 set standard potion ingredients

Students may also bring, if they desire, an owl OR a cat OR a toad.

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS

ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICK

Yours sincerely,

Lucinda Thomsonicle-Pocus

Chief Attendant of Witchcraft Provisions

"Well," Remus decided "we can't get your uniform because you'll grow between now and next September. I am not letting you have a wand so soon before school starts, don't look at me like that." Patricia had just attempted to give him puppy eyes, which had stopped working on him in his seventh year (don't ask why). "We already talked about potions ingredients and I'm buying you an owl… Take forty Galleons, just to be on the safe side." Patricia nodded and began counting out exactly forty Galleons in Galleons, Sickles and Knuts.

When they got to Remus' vault he stacked up some of the money that he had changed from Muggle notes. He then went to the back of the vault to fetch the shrinking, self-cleaning owl perch that he knew was there. He let Patricia have free run of his vault while he was looking for it, so he wasn't surprised to see her looking through his old Defense textbooks when he got back. He left her with the books while he went to talk to Griphook, the goblin who had taken them down to the vaults.

"Griphook, I was wondering about that search that you mentioned last year…" Griphook grumbled. He was seriously regretting mentioning the search that the Goblin Nation had started to this werewolf. It had only been a year and the man kept nagging him for information every chance he got. He did have a personal interest in the search, which was the only reason that Griphook had told him about it, but it was quite annoying that he kept asking about it when Griphook had already sworn to himself that he would tell him.

"Just as last time we spoke, Mr Lupin" Griphook snarled "the Goblin Nation has made little progress. We have not found Harry Potter." What a coup it would be for them if they did! Of course, they wouldn't keep the boy. No, they would make sure he was taken care of, hand him over to Remus Lupin perhaps, and milk the Ministry of Magic for every bit of recognition and reward they could.

Remus sighed. "Thank you, Griphook."

"You're welcome." the goblin snapped.

Once they were back aboveground Remus was surprised that he didn't have to stop Patricia from running to Flourish and Blotts. In fact he actually had to get her to move because she stopped at the top of the banks stairs to look about the Alley.

"I was looking for Professor Babbling." she said as an excuse.

"We're meeting her at Flourish and Blotts, remember?" Patricia nodded slowly. "Let's get the rest of your school stuff, and then we'll head there for your books."

Patricia readily followed Remus from shop to shop. They bought a cauldron ("Don't go all _Macbeth_ witches with this." "I'm going to have to leave it at your house anyway!") at Potage's Cauldron Shop , a set of crystal phials ("They won't break as easily as glass. Trust me.") and a set of brass scales at Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment, and a telescope from a French witch running a stall by Madam Malkin's ("French astronomy equipment is much better than ours."). Then they went to Flourish and Blotts.

At that time of year the shop wasn't busy and it was easy to find Professor Babbling where she was sitting in the back corner of the building reading a novel. She looked up when they arrived and cracked a smile when she saw Patricia carrying a stack of books and Remus lagging behind with all their other purchases piled into a caldron. "I was wondering when you'd get here."

"We were at Gringotts longer than I'd expected we'd be." Remus apologized. "I hope we haven't made you late."

"Not at all." Bathsheda rose from her seat in one graceful movement and put the book she had been reading back on the shelf to her left. "I've actually finished teaching for today; Professor McGonagall just wants me back by curfew." Remus laughed.

"Some things never change."

Patricia went to the counter to pay for her schoolbooks. When she came back to the two adults carrying the bag of books, Remus and Bathsheda were discussing the teachers at Hogwarts.

" _Snape_ is teaching _Potions_?" Remus asked incredulously. Bathsheda nodded. "How's that working out?"

"We've already had five cauldrons explode and a fifth-year Hufflepuff is in St Mungo's." Remus winced.

"What was Dumbledore thinking?" Bathsheda didn't have an answer for that.

After they left Flourish and Blotts, with Patricia and Professor Babbling talking amicably about Patricia's parents, Remus took them to Eeylops Owl Emporium. As they entered the dimly lit shop several owls began hooting loudly. A middle-aged wizard with fluffy sideburns rushed towards them.

"Isn't it late to be buying an owl for school?" he asked, looking frazzled. He had been pulling all-nighters in order to be fully stocked for the Hogwarts students rush and had yet to catch up on his lost sleep.

"I'm not going to Hogwarts till next year." Patricia told him. "I'm just getting an owl to send letters to my family."

"Oh." The man raked his fingers through his hair, making it stand even more on end than it had been before. He looked at Remus, and then at Bathsheda. "Well you folk are welcome to look around, but we have a small selection right now."

"That's fine." Remus said. "Thank you."

The three of them began looking around the shop while the man retreated into the back room to start unpacking a shipment that they had just received. He was correct in saying that the selection of owls was small; all they had was three barn owls who were gathered in one corner like a group of mean girls at a Muggle high school, an extremely loud screech owl, and a grey snowy owl that was chirping at them sadly from its perch.

Patricia stopped at the snowy owl's cage. Unlike the other owls, the snowy owl didn't have a price marked on its cage. The owl stared at Patricia with big yellow eyes and Patricia stared back. "Hello." The owl hopped closer to her and bumped its beak into her nose.

"Hoo-oo." the owl said.

Remus poked his head into the back and waited while the man levitated a box of boxes of owl nuts onto a shelf. "Excuse me, how much is the snowy owl?"

The man whipped his hands on a rag. "Him? He's only twenty days old. His brother pushed him out of their nest. You'd have to feed…" Suddenly the man's eyes widened. "Oh bloody hell! I've forgotten to feed him!" He rushed frantically around the shop and eventually arrived at the snowy owl's cage with a box of what looked like chopped up whole mice. The owl gave him what was clearly a withering look, like he was asking the man how he had _just_ figured out that he hadn't eaten. "Sorry mate."

The owl snapped up bits of mouse from the man's hand and gave him a hard nip. "Ow! I said I was sorry!" The owl hooted. The man turned back to Remus. "Like I said, you have to feed him by hand. And he won't be able to carry letters for a few more months." He saw the way that Patricia was looking at the owl and made a quick decision. "You can have him for five Galleons."

Patricia's eyes widened. She blinked at the man like she wasn't sure she had heard him properly, which she was. "Really?" All the other owls in the shop cost ten or fifteen Galleons.

"Really. You'll need to buy some mice to feed him though, those are extra." Patricia looked up at Remus who looked at the man who looked at Bathsheda, having apparently somehow come to the conclusion that the blond woman was Patricia's mother, who looked at the owl who was looking at Patricia.

"You've got a deal." Remus told the man.

"You hear that?" Patricia whispered to the owl "You're coming home with us." The owl hooted happily.

About ten minutes later Remus, Bathsheda, Patricia and the owl were sitting around a table on Fortescue's patio. The three humans were eating ice-creams and Patricia was trying to get the owl to agree to a name for himself.

"Ariel?" The owl hooted his dissent. "Puck?" No. "Luke?" Still no. "Han?" The owl shrieked and shook his head. "Okay, definitely not."

"What about Benvolio?" Remus suggested. That was the name of one of the only male Shakespeare characters that he could actually stand.

"Benvolio?" Patricia asked the owl. He appeared to think for a moment before obviously nodding. "Great! Benvolio it is." She smiled at the newly named owl.

After a moment Bathsheda spoke up. She wanted to know if there was anything else Patricia wanted her to tell her about her parents. Of course, Patricia had about two dozen more questions and Remus was interested in learning what Bathsheda knew about the rest of Patricia's family, so the three of them, plus Benvolio, spent a mostly quiet afternoon sitting and talking outside of Fortescue's.

It very quickly came to suppertime and Bathsheda suggested that they eat together at the Leaky Cauldron. Remus and Patricia (and Benvolio) agreed. They continued talking all through the meal. Patricia eventually ended up enthusiastically telling Bathsheda (the woman insisted that the girl call her by her first name after the third time she called her "Professor Babbling") all about her Muggle school and her friends. Bathsheda was glad that her best friend's daughter was happy, even if she was literally living in a prison. Remus told her in hushed tones about the letter Stanislav and Pythia had left him and the rune magic that Stanislav had worked to make sure his daughter would be properly taken care of. Bathsheda confirmed his nagging feeling that that type of magic was exploiting about a dozen loopholes in magical law and warned him that it wasn't the best idea to tell just anyone about it. Remus told her that she was the only person other than him and Patricia to know anything about it.

They left the pub half an hour before Hogwarts curfew, and way past Patricia's bedtime.

"I'll write to you." Bathsheda promised Patricia, giving her a hug. "And you write back when it's safe for Benvolio to travel."

"I will." Patricia replied. Bathsheda shook Remus' hand, gave Patricia a wave, and Disapperated.

Patricia and Remus had to take the Knight Bus back, which was even more unpleasant than usual because of the many bags and packages they were carrying. The ride was bumpy and frightening, and they were both glad when they stumbled off the bus in front of Remus' house.

"So, did you have a nice time?" Remus asked Patricia. She nodded, yawning.

They had only meant to leave their more peculiar purchases inside and then Remus was going to drive Patricia back to the Nest. However, Patricia fell asleep on the chair in front of the fire and Benvolio refused to let Remus wake her up. Remus chuckled, and then he went to the phone so that he could call the prison. They would be short one 'inmate' that night.

* * *

Disclaimer: The Hogwarts equipment list is a slightly edited version of the one in "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone". It is not all my own work.

A/N: ... Yeah, I just wanted to have an A/N. Patricia will be at Hogwarts soon.

-Cynder2013


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

 _October 31_ _st_ _, 1988- Darwin Primary School, Yorkshire County, England_

At recess Lucas Hale was being his normal self, which meant that he was making fun of Patricia. When he didn't succeed in getting a reaction from her he would move on to Ava and then either Tracy or Patricia would slap him or cause him to fall face-first into a mud puddle. Then William would make sure that any teachers Lucas went crying to would get the truth about what happened which meant that Lucas would get detention and the others would get a stern talking to. That was how it usually worked, so Lucas began grinning when he realized that Patricia was actually reacting to what he was saying.

"I'd think that a witch like you would like Hallowe'en. I guess you're a freak even for a freak, huh?"

"My likes and dislikes are none of your concern, Lucas." Patricia said icily. Lucas noticed her change in tone and decided to try his luck with pressing on.

"Awww, what happened? Would no one give you sweets?" Patricia scowled and Ava put a hand on her friend's arm, warning her to be careful. Patricia relaxed slightly and reminded herself that this time next year she wouldn't have to put up with Lucas. She still had to tell her friends about going away to Hogwarts…

"Do you think I'm so shallow, Lucas? Are you sure you're not talking about yourself?"

A few of their classmates who were listening in on them gasped like Patricia had just said something really horrible. Tracy 'accidently' stepped on the foot of the gasper nearest to her and caused a chain reaction that had the obvious eavesdroppers stumbling backwards. William sighed. He just knew that this was going to end badly.

Lucas' face began to turn pink. "I'm not the _whore_ without any parents!" he shouted. This time everyone within earshot gasped. A few people covered their ears. One girl looked like she was going to pass out. Patricia turned red. She knew that Lucas didn't know what the word 'whore' meant, but that did make it any less insulting.

 _You still have to deal with him for the next two semesters, Patricia,_ she reminded herself. _Don't say something you'll regret._ It was good advice, pity she didn't take it.

"My parents are _dead!_ " she shrieked. "They were _murdered_ on _Hallowe'en_ when I was _one!_ They were _murdered_ , and it's _beyond_ insulting that you keep using them as common _cannon fodder!_ You _shut up_ about my parents, and while you're at it _stop_ copying your _mother_ and using words that your _tiny mind_ can't understand!"

Patricia pushed through the crowd and ran into the school. One of the supervising teachers finally noticed what was happening and began to yell at Patricia not to go inside. He got a surprise when the words "The cow says moo!" came out of his mouth instead of "Come back here young lady!" A few students laughed, which gave Ava, Tracy, and William time to run into the school after their friend. They found her crying in the back of the library where the encyclopaedias were housed. The librarian had pointed her out to them and then wished them luck because she hadn't been able to comfort the girl in the least.

"That horrible, horrible, horrible…boy!" Tracy sputtered. She had tried to find a word other than 'boy' to use in describing Lucas, but couldn't think of one that wouldn't cause the librarian to wash her mouth out with soap. Ava knelt down beside Patricia and gave her a hug.

"I can't take much more of this." Patricia choked out. "His family doesn't even have that much power; we should be able to get him to stop bullying us!"

"It's only another year." William reminded her. "Then he'll be going to that posh private school in London and we can set the hounds on him from good old Hanson Academy. I've got the files all ready."

Rather than comforting her, William's encouragement only made Patricia burst into tears again. "I… won't… be… going… with… you… to… Hanson." she said between sobs.

"What!?" Tracy, William and even Ava exclaimed. The librarian looked towards the children from her spot near a book cart that was helping to block them from view. As nothing seemed dangerously amiss she when back to work, re-shelving books and making sure that the children weren't seen by any of their meaner classmates.

"What do you mean you're not going to Hanson?" Tracy asked when Patricia had managed to control her tears. Patricia sniffed. Well, she was already up to blurting out two things that she really shouldn't have and some accidental magic, she may as well let it all out.

"I'm going to the private school my mother went to, Hogwarts. I've been down for it since I was born."

"You're going where?" Tracy questioned incredulously. She thought that her friend was joking. After all, who in their right mind would name a school _Hogwarts_?

"Hogwarts." Patricia said surely. Okay, so she wasn't joking. "I'll write you lots, promise." Tracy knelt down beside Ava and enveloped both of them in a hug. William shifted from side to side uncomfortably.

"We'll miss you." Ava murmured.

"I'll miss you to." Patricia said. They all heard the bell ring. Patricia shifted her arms and wiped away the last of her tears. "Come on, we're going to be late."

* * *

 _October 31_ _st_ _, 1988- St Catchpole Cemetery, Ottery St Catchpole, Devon, England_

Just like when she had to take the Knight Bus, Patricia felt sick after her first time using side-along apparition. She had been too young to use it in the years before and even though her uncle insisted that he was an expert she was not looking forwards to taking it back.

"They're right over there." Remus pointed. They had landed underneath a willow tree at the back of St Catchpole Cemetery. A silvery white half-moon was beginning to rise over the hills and stars were appearing one by one. It was a nice night for trick-or-treating with mere wisps of clouds in the sky. It wasn't a good night for visiting the cemetery because some older kids liked to pull pranks on younger children and they usually used the cemetery to do that but Patricia and Remus were there anyway.

Patricia had to visit her parents.

She walked towards their grave with a bunch of roses clutched in her hand. She crouched down and leaned the bunch of flowers against their headstone which read:

 **HERE LIE STANISLAV AND PYTHIA STIMPSON**

 **JAN. 19, 1957-OCT. 31, 1979**

 **MAY 3, 1958** - **OCT. 31, 1979**

 **FROM THE ASHES A FIRE SHALL BE WOKEN**

Patricia always found it a bit funny that whoever had commissioned the headstone had chosen to quote Tolkien in saying that "from the ashes a fire shall be woken". She supposed that it had been a Muggle who had thought that that would be something that a twenty-two and twenty-one year old would like to have on their gravestone, like they wouldn't be ashes forever even though they had become so too soon.

She cleared her throat. "Hello Mum and Dad. Here we are again, another year. I'm eleven now and I'll be going to school soon so this might be the last time I get to come and see you for a while. Nothing much has changed since last year. Lucas Hale is still being a poisonous little beast." She let out a small choked laugh. Remus walked up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. He had been putting up silencing spells and notice-me-not charms so that Patricia could talk freely to her parents without being bothered or having to worry about eavesdroppers.

"Uncle Remus and I are both well, apart from the usual. Oh! I got our family heir ring when we went to Diagon Alley last month. You and Yellowfang sure put a lot of magic into it, Dad. I could probably have a mountain dropped on me and come out just fine. I won't test it though, promise. Better safe than sorry, right? I got an owl that day to. His name is Benvolio and he was just a little heap of feathers when we brought him home. He's grown since then and he's getting a lot stronger. I always tell him that he's going to be a very handsome owl and I'm starting to see that now.

Mum, we met your friend Bathsheda Babbling. She's teaching Runes at Hogwarts, Dad, and she's been writing letters to me talking about some of her classes. They sound fascinating but I feel bad for the sixth year student that turned his nose into an owl's beak. I'm not quite sure how he managed it since they were working on animation spells but that's just magic I guess.

Dad, I know what I want to be when I grow up. I want to be a Rune Master, just like you and Bathsheda. She asked me to call her by her first name, Mum. Just until school starts and I have to call her "Professor Babbling", she thinks she'll be better used to her title by then. It's her first year teaching you see.

I got this book called _British Wizarding Houses of the Twentieth Century_. It's got a lot of information about a lot of wizarding families in it, including ours. It says I'm dead though, and Uncle Remus wouldn't let me write to the author to correct them. He says they probably wrote the book under a fake name anyway because there's a lot in it that would offend powerful pure-blood families. The names of some of your family members are in there and I am allowed to write to them as soon as Benvolio can manage long flights. I didn't know that I had any other family before. It's a bit of an odd feeling to be honest.

I guess I wasn't right when I said that nothing's changed since last year, there's a lot that's different, but there's a lot that's the same to. Everything in the Muggle world is the same for me and my friends except we're going to be going to different schools next year. Muggle nurses went on strike in February and postal workers in August. Margaret Thatcher is still prime minister and she went to Africa in January. There was something in the news about a kid being Britain's youngest chess master but I can't really remember details. Something happened with a BBC broadcast but I'm not really sure about that either…

I could stand here and talk to you all night but I've got to let Uncle Remus have his turn. Bye Mum, bye Dad."

"Hello Stanislav. Hello Pythia. I don't think there's much left for me to tell you. Patricia is doing well in school. She got all As on her last report card. Everyone at the Nest is still helping to take care of her; you did a good job Stanislav. Charles Turpin isn't drinking as much as he was right after his wife died but he still goes and gets drunk some days after work. Pythia, Patricia is still using those Tarot cards I gave her so you don't have to worry, she takes after you to." Remus smiled a little. "I haven't found Harry, but Patricia always reminds me not to give up hope. So, really everything is as it should be. I'll come see you next year, even if Dumbledore and her head of house won't let Patricia out of school. Goodbye for now."

Remus stepped back from the grave to let Patricia have some time alone with her parents. It really was a good thing that she had found the names of some of her family members, and that she had met Bathsheda, because having only three people that she could actually talk to about everything with two of them being dead would not have been healthy in the long run.

After a few minutes Patricia went over to where Remus was waiting. "I'm ready to go." she told him. "Are we going to visit Lily and James to?" Remus shook his head. He didn't feel like visiting his friends' grave just to say again that he hadn't made any progress in finding their son.

"Let's go home, Patricia."

Remus waved his wand and removed the spells that he had put up. Almost immediately the sound of a child screaming came from the front of the cemetery. Remus, being the reckless Gryffindor he was, ran towards the screaming with his wand still clutched in his hand. After a moment of hesitation Patricia ran after him.

The little redheaded boy by the gate running around with what looked like a large spider on his head while his two equally redheaded brothers were doubled over laughing at him made it obvious that there wasn't any real danger. One of the boys had sparks flying from his fingers which made both Remus and Patricia sure that they were wizards.

" _Reducio._ " Remus intoned. A burst of purple light burst out of his wand and hit the spider, which shivered and shrank to the size of a penny. " _Accio._ " The spider flew through the air towards him and he leaned to the side so that it flew over his shoulder and landed safely in the graveyard. The two laughing boys, who turned out to be twins when their faces were visable, had started looking around as soon as the spider started shrinking and when it flew off towards the graveyard their eyes landed on Remus.

"Wicked!" the twins said in unison.

A redheaded man came puffing up the hill. He looked at the boys, looked at the wizard with the little girl, and sighed. "I do hope they haven't been giving you too much trouble." he said to Remus.

"Not at all." Remus replied mildly. He held out his non-wand hand and the other man shook it. "Remus Lupin." The man's eyes widened.

"Remus Lupin? Why, don't you remember me? I'm Arthur Weasley, from the—We must have a drink. I haven't seen you in years!"

"Arthur Weasley!" Remus exclaimed. He hadn't recognized him. Well, he had gained weight since the last time they'd met. "Of course I remember you! How's Molly?"

"Well, well." Arthur had gotten distracted with gathering the three boys together. "Ah, you haven't met our children, have you? This is Ron." He patted the shoulder of the boy who had had the spider on his head. "He's eight. And these are Fred and George, they're ten." He nodded his head at each of the other boys.

"Hey!" Fred exclaimed.

" _I'm_ Fred-" said George.

"- and _I'm_ George!" Remus thought that Arthur had gotten the names the right way around but now he was confused.

"Er, hello boys." Patricia tugged on his sleeve. "This is Patricia, she's eleven."

"Hello." The Weasley boys looked at Patricia. Patricia looked at the Weasley boys. For a moment nobody moved.

"Dad," George said at last "did you and mum loose our sister and not tell us about it?" Ron had a different question which he quickly demanded of Patricia.

"If you're eleven why aren't you at Hogwarts?"

"I turned eleven this September." Patricia said matter-of-factly. "And I'm not your sister."

Remus and Arthur looked at each other. "Is she your daughter?" Arthur asked. Remus sighed, rolled his eyes up to the star-specked sky, and wondered how the night had become so complicated. He obviously couldn't tell Arthur and Molly the whole truth about Patricia. It wouldn't do her any good to have the story get out.

He'd just have to make something up; the former Marauder was good at that.

He gave Arthur a half-smile. "How about that drink?"

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own the words from Tolkins "All That is Gold Does Not Glitter".

A/N: Next chapter: Hogwarts!

-Cynder2013


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

 _September 1_ _st_ _, 1989-Platform 9 ¾, King's Cross Station, London, England_

"You're sure you have everything?"

"Even if I had forgotten something, Uncle Remus, we're here already." Patricia held Benvolio's cage while Remus lifted her trunk onto the bright scarlet train. They put the trunk and Benvolio into a nearby empty compartment and then Remus went back down to the platform while Patricia leaned out the door. She was looking for Weasley red hair and was disappointed when she didn't spot any. "Do you think they're late?" she asked Remus, who laughed.

"According to Molly they're always late, it comes with having to shepherd seven children to the platform." He smiled. "Don't worry, Patricia, they'll be here."

Remus reached out and gave the girl a hug. "You have your wand?" he asked. She rolled her eyes and lifted her right arm to show him that she had her wand holster strapped to it with her wand nestled safely inside. Vine wood, dragon heartstring, reasonably supple and exactly twelve inches in length; her wand had taken her almost an hour to find at Ollivanders. During that trip to Diagon Alley they had also bought her potion ingredients and her Hogwarts robes that were now sitting at the top of her trunk.

Patricia lingered at the door for a bit longer before Remus told her to go to her compartment. A few moments after she got there the train's whistle blew shrilly. She looked over Benvolio's cage out of the window and just managed to glimpse the time on the station clock. There was one minute left till the departure time.

"Is anyone sitting here?" a voice asked. Patricia turned away from the window and saw a boy with dreadlocks and wearing a Beetles T-shirt standing in the doorway of the compartment. She shook her head and the boy lugged his trunk into the compartment. "I'm Lee Jordan." The boy said, thrusting his hand forwards. The name sounded familiar to her, though she wasn't sure why.

"Patricia Stimpson." she replied as she shook his hand. Benvolio hooted. "And this is Benvolio. You're a first year to, right?"

"Yup."

The whistle sounded again and the two of them were jointed back and forth as the train began to move. Lee opened the window and knelt on top of his trunk so that he could wave to his parents on the platform. Patricia peeked under his arm so that she could wave to Remus, who waved back with an odd smile on his face. He looked a bit sad but happy at the same time. She also caught sight of Arthur and Molly Weasley with Ron and Ginny, the youngest of the seven Weasley children and the only girl, standing between them.

"So," Patricia said when the train had completely left the station and Lee had sat down in the seat opposite her, "what House do you think you'll be in? You do know what the Houses are, right?" she asked quickly, remembering that he was wearing a shirt for a Muggle band.

"Of course I do!" Lee exclaimed. "My dad was in Hufflepuff."

"Sorry, it's just with your shirt I thought that you might be a Muggleborn…" Patricia trailed off as she suddenly recalled where she had seen his name before. "Oh, but your family's in _British Wizarding Houses of the Twentieth Century_ , so you can't be a Muggleborn. My mistake."

"That's alright." There was an awkward pause for a few moments. Then Lee said, "I'd like to be in Gryffindor though. What about you?"

"My uncle was a Gryffindor but my mum was in Slytherin." Lee's eyes widened and he unknowingly leaned away from Patricia. "Not all Slyterins are evil."

"Right." Lee said, not sounding very convinced. "It's just…most of You-Know-Who's followers were Slytherins."

"My parents were murdered by Death Eaters."

"Oh. Err, sorry."

"It wasn't your fault." she said lightly. "Anyway, I favour Ravenclaw for myself. Maybe Gryffindor." Lee nodded.

The sound of someone running through the hallway came towards their compartment. The two of them looked at each other and Patricia's wand shot out of its holster and into her hand. She slid the door open just a little and was bowled over when two boys pushed their way in.

"Patty, thank Merlin!" the first boy exclaimed.

"We need your help." the second boy said.

"Don't call me Patty." she said to both of them. "And let me stand up before I hex you." She didn't actually know any hexes and the boys knew that but they still got out of her way quickly. She sat back down and put her wand away. "First of all, Lee these are Fred and George Weasley. Fred, George, this is Lee Jordan."

"Hello." said Lee, still looking shocked at the appearance of the two redheads. "What do you need help with?"

"Well Lee-"

"-our dear brother-"

"-Percy, he's a fourth year,-"

"-has got it into his head-"

"-to introduce us to some 'model students'."

"The horror!" Patricia joked. "Let me guess, you want us to hide you?"

"Please?" Fred asked. "He's going through all the compartments asking for us."

"We just barely got away." George added. "But he'll be here soon."

Lee looked back and forth between the twins. Then he opened his trunk and pulled out a shimmering white cloak. "Get under this when he gets here."

"You have an invisibility cloak?!" Patricia, Fred and George exclaimed in unison. Lee shook his head.

"It's not a _real_ invisibility cloak. It's Demiguise fur and it's old so you'll have to stay really still…"

"Why do you even have it?" Patricia asked, eyeing the cloak skeptically.

"My dad thought I could use it for Transfiguration. Something about creating a cushion."

"Huh."

The abilities of the cloak got put to the test when they began hearing knocks coming down the train. Fred and George ducked under the cloak without a word and a few seconds later a curly-haired redheaded boy arrived at the compartment door. He knocked sharply twice and, after looking towards where the twins should have been out of the corner of her eye, Patricia slid open the door. The cloak seemed to be working, but there was a bit of wavering in the air around the seemingly empty seat. They would just have to hope that the boy didn't notice.

"Hello," the boy said at once "I'm Percy Weasley. Have you seen my brothers? Twins, red hair, first years, troublemakers. You can't miss them."

"No, I haven't seen anyone like that." Patricia said. She had never met Percy Weasley before, so she tried to speak as calmly as possible so he would be sure not to notice that she was lying. "Have you, Lee?"

"Can't say I have." Lee shrugged. "Sorry."

Percy looked disappointed. "Well," he said "if you see them send them to me will you? I'll be at the front of the train." He left and went to the compartment across the hall. When he had moved out of sight Fred and George threw off the cloak.

"Thanks guys." they sighed in unison.

"No problem." Lee said, taking the cloak back from them. He had the distinct feeling that if he didn't they'd end up using it to prank the teachers. "Do you want to play Exploding Snap?"

"Sure."

They passed the time laughing at each other and shouting when the cards exploded. Eventually the snake cart came around. Patricia bought Bernie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Lee got Licorice Wands and Chocolate Frogs and they both bought Pumpkin Pasties that all four of them ate with the peanut butter sandwiches that Mrs. Weasley had packed for the twins.

"Be careful with the Bernie Bott's." Patricia told Lee absentmindedly as she unwrapped a Chocolate Frog. "I got an earwax flavored one last time." Her Frog hopped out of its package and onto Benvolio's cage. She grabbed it with one hand and bit its head off.

"I have had Bernie Bott's before." Lee said. He took a striped brown bean out of the box and tossed the whole thing into his mouth before passing the box to George. He then started coughing and George had to pound him on the back before he could speak.

"What was it?" Fred asked.

"Wood." Lee replied weakly.

"Told you." Patricia said. She looked down at the Chocolate Frog card she had gotten. "Huh, I got Circe."

"What?!" Fred and George nearly fell out of their seats.

"She's an ultra-super rare card!" Fred explained.

"I'll trade you for Morgana and Dumbledore." George offered. Patricia smirked at him.

"No deal." She reached into the skirt pocket of her dress and pulled out her pack of tarot cards. "I'll read your cards though."

"You're a seer?" Lee asked. Patricia shook her head.

"My mum was. I don't seem to have any of her power, so I just read for fun." She tried not to think about that time a girl had pulled the Death card and died not long after. That had to be a one-time incident. She didn't really want to predict the future, not like that.

The boys were up for it but before Patricia could even take the cards out of their box there was a knock at the compartment door. They four of them looked up quickly. Lee prepared to toss his Demiguise fur cloak over the twins just in case it was Percy back again but let it drop out of his hands when he saw that the person outside the door wasn't a Weasley.

The curly-haired blond girl looked at them in confusion when they looked at her with alarm through the glass door. As soon as he had shoved the cloak away, Lee opened the door.

"Hello." the girl said, still confused. "I just wanted to let you know that we'll be arriving soon and you should change into your robes. You can just put them on over whatever you're wearing, that's what everyone does. Oh, and you can leave your trunks and owls and stuff, they'll be taken up to the school separately. "

"Thank you." Patricia said for all of them. The boys nodded.

"You're welcome." The older girl moved on to the next compartment. Fred and George stood up reluctantly.

"Our stuff is a few cars down." George said.

"We'll see you when we arrive." Fred promised. He and his brother looked at Patricia and Lee.

"Friends?" they asked.

"Friends." Lee agreed.

"No matter what Houses we end up in." Patricia added quickly. Lee looked at her out of the corner of his eye and then nodded.

"Deal!" Fred and George said. They looked up and down the hallway for Percy before darting out of the compartment.

Patricia and Lee took their school robes out of their trunks and pulled them on over their clothes. Patricia put her pack of tarot cards in the pocket of her robes and then they waited for the train to pull into the station.

"I'll see you soon, Benvolio." Patricia told her owl when the train jolted to a stop. Benvolio hooted at her and then proceeded to half-close his eyes and pretend to be asleep. Patricia knew that the snowy owl wouldn't actually fall asleep until they were back together. For his sake she hoped that sorting them into Houses and having dinner wouldn't take too long.

As soon as they arrived on the platform, Patricia and Lee were ambushed by the Weasley twins, who threw their arms over their shoulders saying, "Hello friends, long time no see!"

"Firs' years over here!" A very tall, very wide, very wild-looking man in a giant fur coat shouted while holding a lantern high in the air. "Firs' years!"

"That must be Hagrid." Fred said. The four of them pushed through the crowd of older students with the rest of the first year students towards the man.

"Hello ev'ryone!" he said when all of the first years were gathered around him. "I'm Rubeus Hagrid, the Keeper o' the Keys and Grounds o' Hogwarts. You can just call me Hagrid. If you'll just follow me I'll take you up to the castle. Come along." He turned around and began walking away from the platform, his lantern bobbing above his head. The first year students quickly followed.

They soon came to the edge of a body of water, a small lake, that was lined with many rowboats. Hagrid told them that only four people were allowed in each boat and Patricia, Lee, Fred and George quickly got into the boat nearest to them. The other first years got into groups and piled into the boats. Hagrid got a whole boat to himself and even then it sat low in the water.

"Forwards." Hagrid called and the boats began to move along the surface of the lake.

"Have you heard about the Giant Squid?" Lee asked with a sly smile.

"Of course I have." Patricia said before Fred or George could say anything. "He takes a first year boy every year and turns him into a merman to wait on his every need. The only thing that'll break the spell is a kiss from a Slytherin girl, that's why the Slytherin common room is under the lake." A boy in a boat near them who was leaning out of the boat jerked away from the water. Fred, George and Lee looked frightfully at Patricia.

"Heads down!" Hagrid shouted. Everyone ducked as they passed through the entrance to a stone cavern. Patricia peaked over the edge of the boat and saw brilliant crystal formations twinkling in the light of Hagrid's lantern.

"Please tell us you're joking." Lee begged once they had exited the cavern. Patricia smirked while she was still facing away from them.

"She's got to be kidding, right?" the twins asked nervously.

"What do you—Holy staff of Morgana." She had been turning to face them when she spoke and cut herself off when she saw the building that they were approaching, a giant shining castle with pointed towers and hundreds of bright windows.

Hogwarts.


	10. Chapter 9: Patty's 1st Year

Chapter 9

 _September 1_ _st_ _, 1989- Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland_

The group of first year students had been ushered inside by a stern-looking woman with wire rim glasses who they learned was Professor McGonagall, the Deputy Headmistress. She had then given them a short speech about how they were going to be Sorted into Houses and the point of the points system, looked menacingly at a few kids who were less than put together after the boat ride and then left the small room they were in to go to the great hall. About two seconds after she left the entire group started talking frantically.

"Does anyone know how we get Sorted?" asked a black-haired girl with high eyebrows.

"My dad said we have to do some sort of test." a blue-eyed boy said. "He wouldn't tell me what it was though."

"I heard we have to fight a troll." Fred said.

"Without a wand." George added.

"In front of the entire school." Patricia put her two Knuts in. Eyes widened all around them except for Lee's, he just did his best to hide his grin.

"Yeah right, Weasleys." scoffed a brown-haired boy. "It's just a test, not an execution."

"What will we need to know?" another boy wondered frantically. He was the boy who had practically curled up in the middle of his boat when Patricia had said her piece about the Giant Squid's curse. She had to thank Uncle Remus for helping her with that one, she'd never have come up with a good way to break the curse if he hadn't told her about sneaking into the Slyterin common room when he was at school. That the boy had several strands of his dark hair plastered across his damp forehead meant that he had been one of those to get a _look_ from Professor McGonagall. "I'm only in the middle of _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_!"

A brown-haired girl rolled her eyes. "Calm down, Roger. It can't be that hard, we're just starting."

"It'll have to be hard enough to get rid of the Mudbloods that don't belong here." growled a wide boy with thick eyebrows. Gasps and shouts burst from about half of the room. A few people made hand signs like they were warding off the evil eye. Everyone else, the Muggle-borns , and really, really sheltered half-bloods, looked confused.

"How _dare_ you?" Patricia shrieked in unison with two of the other girls. A freckly blond boy who didn't seem to know what was going on jumped on the wide boy, realizing that whatever he had said was really bad. He was backed by Fred and George. Lee would probably have joined in if Professor McGonagall hadn't stepped through the door at that very moment.

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?"

The four brawling boys fell back. The wide boy had a bruise forming around one eye and his lip was split. Fred, George and the blond boy were also going to be pretty bruised and they were a lot worse off than the other boy. Everyone was silent for a moment, then Patricia spoke up.

"Professor, he called Muggle-borns m-m-"Mudbloods" and said they don't belong at Hogwarts." She pointed at the wide boy. "They were fighting him because that's an awful thing to call someone." The kids who had looked confused before looked like they were beginning to understand what had been said. Anger was leaping through the air.

"The worse." the brown-haired girl said.

"It's just a word." the brown-haired boy argued. "Cassius did nothing wrong." A few others nodded in agreement with him.

"It's a horrible word!" the black haired girl shouted. Other people started taking sides and there was the definite possibility of an all-out brawl starting when Professor McGonagall raised her wand and set off loud explosions over her head. In all the commotion no one noticed a fat silver man float through the wall, look around the room and got back through the wall as fast as he could. One of the famous Hogwarts ghosts had just been there and none of the first years saw. That was a shame.

"Enough! Never in all my time at Hogwarts have I seen such an unruly group of first years! All of you have detention with me on the first day of classes. Messrs Weasley, Weasley, Towler and Warrington, you have dentition for the first three days. If you were Sorted I would take points from all of you!" No one had time to question how she knew Fred, George, Towler and Warrington's names or complain about the punishment because right away she ordered them to line up and follow her into the hall. Patricia pulled the twins aside and dusted them off before they joined the line.

The moment they entered the Great Hall, Patricia looked up. Uncle Remus had mentioned the enchanted ceiling to her in passing but had never really described it. She knew why now, it wasn't really possible to. She could swear that the hall just opened up to the heavens with the stars as close as they were when she saw them through Tracy's telescope. The ceiling didn't just show the sky, it showed every idea of the sky a person could have.

It was amazing.

She looked quickly around the hall at the four House tables, the silvery transparent ghosts and the teachers at the Head table before focusing at a spot in the middle of the front of the raised platform where Professor McGonagall was placing a tattered old pointed hat on a three legged stool. Everyone in the hall was looking at the hat and so did Patricia. They waited.

"What are we waiting for?" Lee whispered. Patricia shrugged.

"Dunno." the twins said in their regular vocal volume. A boy from the Ravenclaw table shushed them.

A rip in the hat opened up like a mouth. A few of the first years gasped. Then the hat began to sing, rather badly.

 _Another year, another crop_

 _of students to be Sorted_

 _and I believe you'd like to know_

 _what values will be important._

 _Here at Hogwarts we have_

 _four of Houses dear_

 _and in just one will you spend_

 _the next seven impending years._

 _The House of Fire, Gryffindor,_

 _holds the brave and daring._

 _You'll never accuse a Gryffindor of_

 _being a coward or uncaring!_

 _Then Hufflepuff, the earthen House,_

 _holds those who're just and loyal._

 _Hufflepuffs are the calm ones_

 _who fear not work and toil!_

 _Ravenclaw soars in air above_

 _with those of wit and learning._

 _To have the knowledge of the world_

 _is every Ravenclaw's yerning!_

 _In the water Sytherin waits_

 _with the upmost cunning._

 _Ambition, forethought, and resourcefulness_

 _keep this odd family running!_

 _And now you know what they're about_

 _our Hogwarts Houses four._

 _So slip me on and I'll tell you_

 _in which you belong more!_

The hat bowed to each of the four tables and the students clapped. Patricia noticed that the older students were a lot less enthusiastic than the younger ones. The Hat must sing a song every year and it would definitely get boring after seven of them.

Professor McGonagall unrolled a sheet of parchment. "When I call your name you will come to the front and the Sorting Hat will put you in a House." she told the first years. The she read the first name, "Abbot, Grace!" A girl with blond pigtails walked up from the centre of the line. McGonagall took the hat off the stool and Grace sat down, visibly shaking. McGonagall put the hat on her head and it slipped down over her eyes. The entire hall seemed to hold its breath.

"RAVENCLAW!" the Hat shouted. The Ravenclaw table burst into applause, followed shortly by the other three Houses. Grace got off the stool and handed the Hat to Professor McGonagall before joining her new housemates. Professor McGonagall then called out the next name.

The boy who'd been worried about not being prepared for a test , "Davis, Roger!", also became a Ravenclaw. "Diggory, Cedric!", the blue-eyed boy who had first suggested the idea of a test was the first new Hufflepuff. His new House applauded even more loudly than Gryffindor had when they got their first new student. "Johnson, Angelina!" was the brown-haired girl who had tried to calm Roger down. She sat on the stool for almost a full minute before the Hat put her in Gryffindor.

Then it was Lee's turn. He mounted the steps up to the platform with an air of trepidation that he tried to hide by balling his hands into fists and burying them in the folds of his robe. The Hat fell over his eyes and almost immediately shouted "GRYFFINDOR!" Lee went over to the Gryffindor table with a small smile on his face. He was patted on the shoulder by the ghost that was sitting next to him and immediately looked like he'd been drenched with ice water.

"Lie, Noa!" was a tiny Japanese girl who became a Ravenclaw. She had a red fabric amulet hanging around her neck that swung back and forth as she scampered to the Ravenclaw table. "Moon, Violet!" was another Ravenclaw. She was a wispy looking girl whose wafting brown hair made Patricia strongly suspect that she had some sort of faerie ancestry. "Pucey, Adrian!" was the boy who had defended Warrington. He became a Slytherin after several seconds of wearing the Hat.

"No surprise there." Fred muttered. Patricia elbowed him in the gut and he doubled over with an "Oof!"

The Hat put "Spinnet, Alicia!" in Gryffindor. The black-haired girl sat down beside Angelina Johnson and was greeted enthusiastically by her and Lee, who was sitting across from them.

When Patricia's turn came she sat up straight on the stool and looked at the inside of the Hat. A few people muttered when they realized that she was, in fact, _not_ a Weasley. Sure she had red hair but it wasn't Weasley red, and she didn't have freckles and her nose was all wrong for her to be a Weasley. Really, people ought to have noticed.

 _"Ah."_ the Hat's voice said. _"How interesting."_ Patricia blinked.

 _"Err, hello."_ she thought. _"How are you?"_

 _"As well as can be expected."_ the Hat replied. _"Now, where to put you? Hmm…Enough ambition for Slytherin but I don't believe you'd do well there. Gryffindor perhaps? Or Hufflepuff? Ah, you are a difficult one to place!"_ The Hat sounded quite excited by that. Patricia wondered how long she'd been sitting in front of the entire school with it on her head. Could it really make decisions that quickly? _"Yes, Hufflepuff would be good for you, but would you be good for Hufflepuff?"_

 _"I'm afraid I don't know, sir."_ Patricia thought. The Hat laughed.

 _"Gryffindor then? You know Remus Lupin...No, you'd be too much for Gyrffindor."_ Patricia wasn't sure if she should be offended by that.

 _"Do you go through all the Houses for everyone?"_ she asked the Hat.

 _"Certainly not!_ " the Hat replied in a voice that could only be described as smiling. _"Now let me see…Yes that will do nicely. You, my dear, will do great things in_ RAVENCLAW!" The Hat shouted the last word and the hall burst into applause. McGonagall took it off Patricia's head and she walked quickly to the Ravenclaw table. Noa Lie patted the place on the bench next to her and Patricia sat down gratefully.

"That was a minute and a half." Roger Davis commented. "What on earth were you talking about?" Patricia shrugged, not wanting to tell a complete stranger that the Hat had considered each of the Houses for her.

"Welcome to Ravenclaw." a girl said from down the table. Patricia looked and realized that she was the girl who had come to their compartment on the train to let them know that they were arriving. The girl also recognized Patricia. "I'm Penelope Clearwater."

"Patricia Stimpson." Patricia said, even though the entire hall had just heard her name. Penelope's forehead wrinkled in concentration.

"Aren't you dead?" she asked at last.

"No." Patricia said. Then she turned to watch the rest of the Sorting.

The Hat seemed to be able to Sort the last bit of their group rather quickly. "Towler, Kenneth!" became a Gryffindor and Warrington was a Slytherin. Patricia was quite glad that the Hat hadn't put her in Slytherin when that happened. Fred and George both wore the Hat for less than a second before they both became Gryffindors and then the Sorting was done. McGonagall rolled up her parchment and the Hat and stool were taken away.

"What now?" Grace Abbot asked in a whisper. Her question was answered when the white-bearded man in pink and green checked robes stood up. He was easily recognized by all the students, even the first years, as Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts. That was probably because his Chocolate Frog card was really common.

"Welcome Hogwarts students, new and old!" he said in a voice that echoed around the hall. "Welcome to the start of a new year at our fine school! As I am sure your stomachs are all emptier than you would wish them to be, let us begin our feast!"


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

 _Letters from Patricia Stimpson to Tracy Bowen, William Styles and Ava Woodhouse, and Remus Lupin; dated September 2_ _nd_ _, 1989._

Dear Tracy, William and Ava,

Hello from Hogwarts! Since I would be telling the same things to all of you anyway I decided to just write one letter, it'll save my hand for writing lines. Yes, you read that right, writing lines as in detention. Don't worry, it's not just me, ALL the first years have detention, though we're not sure what it is yet. I'll tell you how we managed that it a bit. You'll be getting this letter from Uncle Remus because I'll have sent it to him to send to you. I made him swear that he wouldn't read anything I send for you but you can ask him to make copies if you want.

I made some friends on the train ride here. Lee Jordan and Fred and George Weasley. Fred and George are twins and it's partially their fault that we have detention. They and another boy got into a fight with another boy, Warrington, who insulted half of the first years all at once. We all started taking sides and eventually Professor McGonagall got so frustrated that she just gave all of us detention. This was before we were Sorted or she would have just taken away points.

Sorting is when we're put into the Houses that we take classes with and live in for the entire time that we're at Hogwarts. Each House has a group of qualities that the people in it are supposed to have. Lee, Fred and George are all in Gryffindor, which is the House of the brave and daring. The other boy who was fighting against Warrington with them, Towler, is also in Gryffindor. I'm a Ravenclaw. We're supposed to be wise and witty, but most of the other Houses think we're just a bunch of bookworms. Tracy, I know what you're saying. I'm not _just_ a bookworm. The other Houses are Hufflepuff and Slytherin. Hufflepuffs are hardworking and loyal. Slytherins are cunning and ambitious. My mother was a Slytherin and Uncle Remus was a Gryffindor. You would all be Hufflepuffs or Gryffindors. Apparently Slytherin and Gryffindor have had this rivalry since the school opened that's gotten really bad in the past few years. The older students say we should just try not to get involved but all my friends are in Gryffindor so I don't really have a choice.

I have three roommates, Grace Abbot, Violet Moon and Noa Lie. They all seem nice and I'm not worried about waking up in the morning with green hair. The Ravenclaw boys in our year are Roger Davis, David Pfeiffer, Newton Dudley and Oliver Martel. We're the most gender balanced group in our year. Gryffindor had five boys and three girls, Hufflepuff has two boys and four girls and Slytherin just has four boys. Just so you don't have to do the maths I'll tell you that our entire year is made up of twenty-six kids. The largest year here is the seventh year. They have more than a hundred students.

We haven't started classes yet, I'll tell you when we do, but I've met some of the teachers. Professor McGonagall teaches maths. Professor Babbling teaches languages but we can't take her class until third year. Professor Flitwick is our Head of House and he teaches English. According to the older students our chemistry teacher, Professor Snape, is a really horrible teacher and really mean to boot. One boy said he once took points away for breathing loudly! He's the Slytherin Head of House and he favours them over the rest of us. That might be better than history though. Professor Binns is supposed to be so boring that he puts everyone to sleep!

The start of year feast was nice. The Great Hall is enormous and the food was really good. Uncle Remus told me how to get into the kitchens so I'll see if I can get some recipes for you, Ava. Hogwarts is in this big old castle and there are supposed to be a bunch of secret passages. Our dorm rooms are all over the place, we Ravenclaws have our own tower and some of the other Houses are down in the dungeons. All of us can see the stars whenever we're in the Great Hall at night though, and during astronomy class.

I could go on for ages but I have to get to breakfast. I'll post this right after and hopefully you'll get it soon. When you write back remember to tell me all about Hanson!

Your friend,

Patricia

* * *

Dear Uncle Remus,

I'm in Ravenclaw! The tower is just like you said only there are about a hundred more books. It's like we have our own library. Noe Lie, one of my roommates, answered the riddle that the doorknocker asked. Everyone was really impressed. I'm friends with three Gryffindors, Fred and George Weasley and another boy called Lee Jordan, so you can't be very upset about me not making it into your old House. The Sorting Hat told me that I'd been too much for Gryffindor so it's probably a good thing that it didn't put me there. It also made it seem like that was your fault. Fred and George got into a fight that ended with the entire first year getting detention from Professor McGonagall. I think they've already beaten you and your school friends on that front. We're probably the first Hogwarts class to get detention before school had even started.

Do you think I should let Lee and the twins in on all the Hogwarts secrets you told me? I know you didn't tell me everything, like where you used to stay during those nights or how you managed to get everywhere so that you could map the entire castle, but secrets are secrets. What about if one of them finds the Map? I don't think I'll be able to not tell them, the Map is just too useful. The stairs alone make me wish you hadn't lost it.

Speaking of Hogwarts secrets, one of them came in handy while we were crossing the lake. I said that the Giant Squid takes first year boys and turns them into mermen and if they want to become human again they have to get a kiss from a Slytherin girl, because you told me that the Slytherin common room is under the lake. Many times. How often did you break in there anyway? Almost everyone believed me and I heard the rumor going around during dinner to! I don't think any of the older students have bothered to correct anyone yet.

I couldn't sleep last night and my roommates couldn't either so we decided to make lists of things that we want to do before we leave Hogwarts. Are there any books in the Hogwarts library about becoming an animagus? What about the Patronus Charm? I guess I should ask the librarian but do you remember anything that you found useful? I want to try to learn some languages to but we have books for that in our common room. Penelope Clearwater, one of the older Ravenclaws, said that we mostly have books that aren't in the library, stuff that isn't commonly used. Maybe I would find something about animagus transformations in the common room. Those aren't very common, right?

I haven't been down to the kitchens yet. I'll be sure to say hello to the house elves for you when I do.

Love from,

Patricia

* * *

 _Letter from Remus Lupin to Patricia Stimpson; dated September 3_ _rd_ _, 1989_

Dear Patricia,

Congratulations! Ravenclaw, just like you wanted. Professor Babbling will be happy to see you in her old House. Every first year got detention? I don't think that's ever happened before, though my year group could probably have managed it. I wish you luck with your three Gryffindors. By what Arthur Weasley has told me about Fred and George you'll be the one pulling them out of trouble most of the time. I would suggest not telling them too many 'Hogwarts secrets' if you can help it, they don't need any help to get into trouble.

DO NOT attempt an animagus transformation just from books. It's far too dangerous, especially for a first year. If you really want to become an animagus ask Professor McGonagall for help. Animagi have become rare in the last century and she's one of the only ones in the country. I'm sure she'll be glad to help you, even more if you'll let her use your transformation for extra credit. She offered that to my class in sixth year and was quite disappointed when no one took her up on the offer.

Learning the Patronus Charm will be a good exercise for you as you're just starting to work with your wand. You should find instructions for it in _Back Foul Beast!_ by George Leyward. I have a copy in my vault that I can send to you if you can't find it at school.

Give Miss Lie my congratulations on getting the entrance riddle. It took us a month to get into Ravenclaw Tower even though we broke into the Slytherin and Hufflepuff common rooms countless times.

It's very boring here with you gone. We all miss you. Bella sends her love and Elizabeth wants you to get expelled so that you can come play checkers with her (something that I do not advise, even though you've already gotten detention).

Lots of love from,

Your Uncle Remus

* * *

 _Letter from Tracy Bowen, William Styles and Ava Woodhouse to Patricia Stimpson; dated September 10,1989_

Dear Patricia,

Tracy: Hogwarts sounds amazing! Are you sure we can't go there? A giant castle with an _astronomy_ class! Sign me up! I can't believe you got detention though. That's a lie, I know your record isn't perfect, bookworm. Hanson can't be as large as Hogwarts and I bet your classes are a lot more fun than ours, the astronomy class anyway. It's been really busy here, which is why we haven't been able to write. We've got a lot of homework and I should be doing maths right now-

Ava: -which is why she cut off in the middle of a sentence. Sorry. It does sound like it would be great to go to Hogwarts. The kitchens must be amazing. I got the recipes you sent but students aren't allowed in the kitchens here so I haven't gotten to try any of them. I've joined the band though, and made a few friends there. School is a lot better without Hale around. Anyway, like Tracy said we have a lot of homework to do so I'll see if William has anything he wants to add to this before I post it.

William: The packages have been sent.

From your friends,

Tracy, Ava, and William

* * *

 _September 13_ _th_ _, 1989- The Library, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland_

Patricia and Lee were looking through the books that had been on the list Professor McGonagall had given them when they'd asked about becoming animagi. Patricia had roped the boys into joining her and as per Remus's predication McGonagall had been eager to help them. They had actually gotten the first smile out of her that any of the first years had seen.

"Do you know where Fred and George are?" Patricia asked as she turned the page of _A Practical Guide to Impractical Transfiguration._ "They were supposed to meet us here."

"They got detention with Filch after Potions."

"What did they do?" Lee smiled.

"Set off a Dungbomb." Patricia smiled to.

"Of course they did."

There was a Ravenclaw Quidditch team practice going on and the first game of the yearlong Gobstones tournament so the library was almost empty. This happened to be a good thing when Fred and George came rushing in smelling like they had just been mucking out an entire stable. Madam Pince wrinkled her nose but as they weren't actually dirty she didn't kick them out just yet.

"Hello our dear friends." George grinned. "Are we late?"

"Considering you had detention with Filch, I think you're early." Patricia put the sleeve of her robes over her nose and her next sentence came out muffled by the fabric. "How many Dungbombs did you set off."

"One-"

"-or two." The twins looked around the room and sat down beside their friends. They leaned towards the centre of the table conspiratorially. "Guess what we found?"

"More of Percy's missing socks?" Lee referenced the prank they had pulled that weekend where the three boys had stolen all of Percy's socks, each one with his initials carefully sewn in, and Patricia had hidden them in the room of the third year Ravenclaw girls. Almost every day since then Penelope Clearwater had been going over to the Gryffindor table, dumping fistfuls of socks in Percy's plate, and going back to her friends with much exaggerated eye rolling. The four of them, and most of the school, were getting good laughs out of that one.

"Of course not-"

"-this was in Filch's office." Fred pulled a ragged sheet of parchment out of his pocket and put it on the table between the tall stacks of books. "It was in a drawer-"

"-marked "Confiscated and Highly Dangerous" so-"

"-we had to see what it was."

"And of course you had to bring it into the library." Patricia rolled her eyes and pulled her sleeve away from her face so that she could get a better look at their spoils. She blinked. It couldn't be… "I think I know what this is."

"Really?" Lee asked.

"Do tell." the twins gestured towards the parchment. Patricia took out her wand.

"Easier to show you." She put the tip of her wand to the parchment. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." Ink began to spread across the page, forming the words:

 _Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs  
Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers  
are proud to present  
THE MARAUDER'S MAP_

"Wicked!" Fred and George exclaimed as they beheld the detailed map. "This is Hogwarts!"

"Here we are!" Lee pointed to a spot on the map near him. "And there's Madam Pince. This map shows where _everyone_ is."

"It's great, isn't it?" The three boys turned to look at Patricia.

"How'd you know to do that?" they demanded. Patricia smiled down at the Marauders Map, her uncle and his friend's magnum opus.

"Well-" Then she saw something on the map that made her face go slack.

"What is it?" Fred asked. Patricia jumped out of her seat, almost knocking a stack of books to the floor. She really was distraught if that could happen without her noticing.

"We have to go see Professor Dumbledore." She grabbed the Map and her eyes flashed back and forth as she imprinted the picture into her brain. It wouldn't last for long, she'd have forgotten it by the next day, but she just needed to know it for a little while. "Mischief managed." The map disappeared from the page.

"Why?" Lee frowned.

"Because there's someone in the school who's supposed to be dead. The Map's never wrong."

* * *

Disclaimer: The Marauder's Map title does not belong to me. It's J.K. Rowlings'


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

 _September 13_ _th_ _, 1989- Outside the Headmaster's office, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland_

If there had been anyone in the corridors there would have been many eyebrows raised at the four little firsties that were barrelling through the corridors like a cerberus was chasing after them. As it was they encountered no resistance as Patricia ran past paintings and though secret passages, leaving the boys to follow her as best they could. A few times someone would look out of a classroom right after they turned a corner or ducked behind a tapestry and then go back to whatever they had been doing with a look of puzzlement.

Lee crashed into Patricia when she stopped suddenly in front of a gargoyle. The twins somehow managed to stop before they ran into him. Patricia stumbled forwards and grabbed onto the gargoyle's nose to stop herself from running into the wall. "Where are we?" Fred and George asked in unison.

"Dumbledore's office." Patricia didn't see the boys' eyes widen and Fred and George glancing rapidly around the corridor because she was busy biting her lip and looking at the gargoyle. "Chocolate Frogs." she tried. Nothing happened. "Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans." Nothing. "Licorice Wands, Acid Pops, Pumpkin Pasties, Fizz—"

"What is going on here!?" Professor McGonagall advanced towards them with Dumbledore half a step behind her. "Weren't you four in the library?"

"Yes, professor." Lee looked over her shoulder at the Headmaster, whose eyes were twinkling merrily. "Professor, Patricia saw someone in the school."

"Someone who shouldn't be here-"

"-because they're supposed to be dead." McGonagall looked at the four students, who looked back at her with faces that radiated innocence.

"And how exactly did Miss Stimpson see this person?" Patricia tried not to squirm.

"In the cards, professor." Dumbledore gave a small smile.

"Tarot cards, Miss Stimpson? Wonderful. Your mother favoured palmistry if I recall correctly. Did the cards tell you who this person is?" Patricia nodded. "Where they are?" She nodded again.

"Speak up, Miss Stimpson." McGonagall ordered. If there was an intruder in the school they needed to be apprehended at once.

"Peter Pettigrew, professor. He's in Gryffindor Tower, the boys' dormitory." She looked down at her feet. "I think he's an Animagus, professor. There was something about a rat."

"A-"

"-rat?" Fred and George looked at each other with matching expressions. "Scabbers!"

* * *

 _September 13_ _th_ _, 1989- Gryffindor Tower Common Room, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland_

The group of three professors, two Aurors, and one prison guard that was in the Gryffindor common room was giving the paintings a lot to talk about. It was lucky for them that none of the dorm rooms had paintings in them or a certain rat would have known to skedaddle long before they made it upstairs.

"Are you sure it's Peter?" Remus whispered to Patricia, who had managed to enter the tower unnoticed and was lurking by the fireplace with her three Gryffindors. They were the only students in the room as the other Gryffindors in the tower had been quickly shepherded out upon the arrival of the Aurors.

"The Map said so." she whispered back.

The room became quiet as one of the Aurors raised her hand to ask for silence. "Alright folks, let's get started." She nodded towards Fred and George. "Go get the rat, boys." The Weasley twins left their friends and headed up to their brother's dorm room. Snape muttered something under his breath about this being a whole lot of fuss for a child's story. Remus glared at his back.

The Auror spoke to her partner, but she may as well have been speaking to everyone in the room. "It'll probably just be a regular old rat. Pettigrew died years ago, being an Animagus doesn't stop you from getting blown up." Her partner sighed.

"Look at it this way, we could be doing paperwork."

The twins came back into the room. George was holding a brown rat with both hands and Fred had his wand out with the business end pointing at the rat. "Did you have any trouble?" McGonagall asked, looking at the wand.

"Nah, just wanted to be prepared."

"He was asleep-"

"-like usual."

"He's bloody useless."

George put Scabbers down on one of the armchairs. Dumbledore gestured towards him. "Well, Mr. Lupin?" Remus pushed forwards. He didn't have to look long.

"It's him." A lump grew in his throat. "That's Peter."

"The rat is missing a toe." Snape observed. "And all that was found of Pettigrew was his finger." The two Aurors took out their wands.

"There's only one way to know for sure." Apparently they didn't trust Remus' memory. "On three. One…two…three!" Burst of blue light came out of the ends of their wands. When they hit Scabbers the sleeping rat transformed into a very wide-awake man who was also very scruffy. His eyes wheeled wildly around the room until they fell on Remus.

"R…r…remus? What's going on?"

"That is Peter Pettigrew." Snape, Dumbledore, and McGonagall said in probably never to be repeated unison. Snape's nose wrinkled as he looked at the man with disgust. McGonagall's voice was a full octave higher than it normally was and Dumbledore had lost the lighthearted tone he usually spoke with. Pettigrew looked towards them.

"P…professor Dumbledore?" Dumbledore raised his wand.

" _Stupefy._ " Pettigrew sank back into the armchair, unconscious. Dumbledore looked towards the Aurors, both of whom were blinking repeatedly in surprise. "I assume you would prefer to get to full story out of him somewhere there aren't children around."

"Very much, Headmaster." the female Auror said, eyeing the four students. "We'll take him to the Ministry."

"May I join you? I would very much like to know how he escaped Black's…What spell was it that Black use against him?" Dumbledore's face scrunched up as he realized that he didn't know what spell Black had used to allegedly kill Pettigrew and twelve Muggles. That should have been mentioned during the trial…

"I'm coming with." Remus announced. "Let's go."

* * *

 _September 13_ _th_ _, 1989- The Office of Amelia Bones, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Ministry of Magic, London, England_

"Madam Bones, there's a Floo call for you. From Headmaster Dumbledore."

"Patch him through, Lottie." Amelia Bones put down her ballpoint pen, she found Muggle writing instruments far easier to complete her mountains of paperwork with than quills, and went to kneel in front of the fire. A few seconds later the head of Albus Dumbledore appeared in the flames. "Hello, Headmaster." Dumbledore didn't smile, which was very unlike him.

"Good evening, Madam Bones."

"What can I do for you? Have Roger and Emma found something?" She had been surprised when his first call asking for her to send over some Aurors came. Albus Dumbledore wasn't the type of person to ask for help. If he hadn't been locked up inside Hogwarts for weeks preparing for the start of term she would have made him get tested to see if he was taking mood-altering potions.

"They have. May we come through? This will make more sense if you see for yourself."

"Just one moment." Amelia moved away from the fireplace. She positioned herself near the door and drew her wand, just in case. "Come in!" Dumbledore stepped out of the fireplace, followed by her two Aurors and Remus Lupin, who had his wand pointed at the man they were carrying between them. When Amelia got a good look at the man her eyes widened. "Merlin! Is that Peter Pettigrew?"

"Yes mam." Roger grunted. "And he's a right heavy bloke. Can we put him down?" Amelia nodded and Pettigrew was dumped unceremoniously in her recently vacated chair. The two Aurors trained there wands on him while Lupin conjured ropes to tide him up.

"Where did you find him?" Amelia asked. Dumbledore gave a tense smile.

"Gryffindor Tower. One of the Weasley boys was keeping him as a pet." Amelia head jerked backwards.

"What?"

"He's an Animagus." Lupin said. "A rat."

"Unregistered?"

"Of course."

Dumbledore cleared his throat. "If you don't mind, Madam Bones, I was hoping that you would be able to get him to tell us what he was doing in my school."

"And how the bloody hell he's alive." Roger interrupted. Emma elbowed him. Dumbledore nodded.

"That as well."

Amelia looked down at Pettigrew, her lips pressed together in a thin line. His appearance was ringing all sorts of alarm bells. "Believe me, Headmaster, he's got a lot of questions that he'll be answering." She went to her desk, unlocked a drawer, and pulled out a small bottle of clear liquid. Lupin's eyes widened when he saw it. He swallowed.

"Veritaserum?" Amelia nodded.

"I have jurisdiction to administer truth serum to any suspicious character in my custody. Mr. Pettigrew here is just that." Lupin didn't protest as she tipped three drops of Veritaserum into Pettigrew's gapping mouth. Dumbledore enervated him at the same time and Pettigrew awoke, sputtering. He had to swallow so that he wouldn't cough up a lung. Immediately his eyes glazed over.

"What is your name?" Amelia demanded.

"Peter Timothy Pettigrew." Pettigrew replied dreamily.

"Why were you at Hogwarts?"

"Percy Weasley brought me there. I was his pet rat."

"Why were you acting as Mr. Weasley's pet?"

"I had to hide."

"Why?"

"So that everyone would think I was dead." Remus looked at Dumbledore, who was staring at Pettigrew with a look similar to the one Patricia had when she was working through a particularly difficult maths problem.

"Why did you need everyone to think you were dead?"

"To get Sirius out of the way." The two Aurors raised their eyebrows. Remus went pale and gripped the mantle of the fireplace with his free hand. Amelia took a deep breath before asking her next question.

"Why did you need Black out of the way?"

"Because he's the only one left who knows the truth."

"What is 'the truth'?"

"He was never the Potter's Secret Keeper, it was me." There was a loud thump. Amelia looked over her shoulder and realized that Lupin had passed out. The noise had drawn the attention of Lottie, who dropped the files she was holding when she looked into the room.

"Oh my." the secretary said. Amelia looked at her and promised herself that she would give the girl a bonus if she stuck around after they had dealt with this.

"Lottie, would you get me a Floo call to the Minister please? And take care of Mr. Lupin after you're done, the rest of us will be very busy."

"Of course, Madame Bones."

* * *

 _September 14th, 1989- Maximum Security floor of Azkaban Prison, an island in the North Sea_

Every prison guard at Azkaban hated the maximum security floor with a burning passion. That was the floor with the most dementors patrolling it and just being up there for a few seconds almost made them feel sorry for the prisoners kept there, almost because those were the worst people on the island. Mostly Death Eaters with a few serial killers thrown in for good measure. The guards went up in groups of three, each of them casting their patronus ahead of them. They passed cells of silent bundles of rags and madly laughing men and women until they reached the one that held Sirius Black. The convicted mass murderer looked at them calmly with grey eyes that looked huge in his skeletal face. "Hello boys."

He was the worse of them.

The lead guard pointed his wand at Black's face. "Sirius Black, you have been ordered by the Minister of Magic to stand trial for the murder of Peter Pettigrew due to new evidence being uncovered. Should you resist you will be immobilized and taken by force. Do you understand?" Black blinked. The guard shoved his wand closer to his face. "I said, do you understand?" Black nodded frantically.

"Yes, yes, I understand. I'm dreaming, aren't I? Or I've finally gone mad." The guard unlocked the door and one of the other men helped him drag Black out of his cell.

"No dream, Black. Maybe we'll get rid of you."

"I'm really getting a trial?" Black's expression changed from one of bewilderment to one of fury. The third guard pointed his wand at him. "It's about bloody time!"


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

 _September 17th, 1989- Courtroom 10, Level 10, Ministry of Magic Headquarters, Whitehall, London, England_

The courtroom was chaotic when Sirius was brought in. There was plenty of arguing going in and several people were out of their seats, punctuating their points with frantic gestures. In the middle of it all he spotted Remus slumped against one wall with a pretty brunette witch holding him up. His friend waved at him and he waved back as much as he could with his arms restrained. Remus looked like he'd either gotten no sleep since Sirius was removed from Azkaban or had gone through a full moon two nights ago.

"Keep movin'." the guard escorting Sirius grunted, prodding him with the tip of his wand. Sirius's eyes snapped forward and he didn't dare look around again until he was safely chained up in the chair facing the current Minster for Magic, Millicent Bagnold.

"Order!" Amelia Bones shouted. No one heard her so she raised her wand and set off the sound of cannon fire. The courtroom went silent. "Be seated!" Everyone who was standing found their seat, most of them tripping over someone else in the process. "Where is the prisoner?" Sirius would have raised his hand if his arms hadn't been bound to the chair.

"He's being brought down now, mam." the witch with Remus called.

"Madam Bones, why is your secretary in the courtroom?" a fat wizard with a limp handlebar mustache shouted furiously. The people seated near him raised their wands to deflect the spittle flying from his mouth.

"Ms. Greene is accompanying Mr. Lupin, who has a personal interest in this trial." The entire Wizengamot turned to look at Minister Bagnold. "She is therefore quite welcome here." For Sirius that had to be the strangest thought for the entire week. Not that he was out of Azkaban when he'd fully expected to die there, not that he was finally getting a trial, that Moony had a lady friend.

The door to the courtroom creaked open and Sirius turned with the Wizengamot to see who was entering. A red haze clouded his vision and he nearly dislocated all the joints in his arms trying to run to the door. "WORMTAIL!" His guards forced him back into his seat. "Let me at him! You traitor! Traitor!"

"Sirius," Though he spoke softly, Remus's voice carried across the courtroom. "Calm down." Sirius stopped struggling and fell back with a sob. One of his guards, not the one who'd nearly punctured his lung with his wand, patted him on the shoulder, receiving a cold look from his partner for his kindness.

Pettigrew was seated in the second chair that rose from the floor. The clinking of the chains binding him to the chair could barely be heard over his blubbering.

"Let the court come to order." The Minister neatened the stack of parchment in front of her. The thunking of the sheets on the table echoed around the room. "Trial on the seventeenth of September, 1989, of Sirius Orion Black and Peter Timothy Pettigrew, both accused of the same crime of the killing of twelve muggles on the first of November, 1981 and of the release of sensitive information resulting in the deaths of James and Lilly Potter on the thirty-first of October, 1981." Bagnold paused to take a sip of water. "Obviously they can't both be guilty." Pettigrew's chin dropped to his chest as he sobbed louder.

"Oh shut up, you miserable little coward." Sirius muttered. After getting permission, Madam Bones fired a silencing spell at Pettigrew.

"Mr. Black, what do you plea?"

"Not guilty."

"And Mr. Pettigrew?" Pettigrew looked up and mouthed the words "not guilty". "Madam Bones, please present your evidence." Amelia Bones stood up.

"On September thirteenth Peter Pettigrew was apprehended by two of my Aurors in Gryffindor Tower at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." This statement sent everyone in the room into a frenzy. "What was he doing there?!" was the most common question , thought it wasn't always worded that nicely. Hey, wake a bunch of wizards up on Sunday morning for a trial that should have happened years ago and see what kind of reception you get.

"Order!" Bagnold shouted. "Madam Bones, please continue." Amelia nodded her thanks and went on to describe how Pettigrew had been captured by the Arurors after a tip-off from a Hogwarts student and was then questioned under Veritaserum by her. "And what did he said?" He had said that he had been the Potters' Secret Keeper and that he'd faked his own death to frame Mr. Black. "How did he accomplish that?" He was an unregistered Animagus. He'd just blown up the whole street and escaped in the form of a rat. Sirius managed not to nod in agreement during the story. If he had he would have looked like a Muggle bobblehead toy.

Bagnold looked at Sirius, who was looking between her and Madam Bones and blinking every few seconds. "The Wizengamot will now question Sirius Black." She looked over the top of her glasses at the chained man. "Mr. Black, were you the Secret Keeper for James and Lilly Potter when they went under the Fidelius Charm?"

"No, Minister. I was not." The only reason there weren't any gasps was that everyone wanted to hear what Black had to say. "I was supposed to be the Secret Keeper but I… I suggested they change to Pettigrew because he'd be the last person anyone would suspect." Bagnold gave a barely perceivable nod.

"Did you ever purposefully give information of any kind to the man known as 'Lord Voldemort'?" This time Sirius had to wait to respond so that everyone could get out their gasps from the Minister using You-Know-Who's name.

"I did not."

"Were you ever a Death Eater?"

"No, Minister. Just check my arm if you don't believe me." One of the younger members of the Wizengamot raised his hand. He stood shakily when the Minister gave him permission to speak.

"May I suggest that Peter Pettigrew be checked for the Dark Mark?"

"You may." Bagnold looked towards one of the guards who had escorted Pettigrew. "Mr. Wilson, if you would?" Wilson grabbed Pettigrew's left wrist and shoved the sleeve of his ratty shirt under the enchanted chains binding him. The grey skull-and-snake Mark stood out starkly on Pettigrew's pale skin even though it was more faded than any Dark Mark anyone in the room had ever seen. Bagnold pressed her lips together and for a moment she looked just like Professor McGonagall when she was about to hand out a punishment.

"Thank you, Mr. Wilson." Wilson nodded and went back to standing at attention beside Pettigrew. "Madame Bones, please remove your silencing spell." Amelia did so with a brisk wave of her wand. "Mr. Pettigrew, I will not mince words, are you responsible for the deaths of Lilly and James Potter?" Pettigrew opened and closed his mouth. He looked at Sirius, who was pointedly looking away. He looked at Remus, who was looking at Sirius. He swallowed. "Today, Mr. Pettigrew."

"The Dark Lord killed them." he squeaked.

"Did you tell Voldemort where they were?"

"I…I…" Pettigrew broke down crying, again. "He made me tell him! The Dark Lord had more power than any other wizard, it was impossible to keep anything from him! He would have killed me!"

"Then you should have died!" Everyone looked to the back of the room where Charlotte Greene was holding Remus back so he wouldn't go charging to the floor to strangle Pettigrew only to pass out before he made it halfway. "You should have died rather than betray your friends! We would have died for you!" He abruptly stopped fighting and slumped against the wall, a tear running down his cheek. "We would have died for you."

* * *

 _Letter from Remus Lupin to Patricia Stimpson, dated September 17th, 1989_

Dear Patricia,

Peter Pettigrew has been sentenced to life in Azkaban. Sirius Black has been cleared of all charges and will be receiving compensation and a formal apology from the Ministry of Magic. As you can imagine he's very happy about being out of Azkaban but he's started joking that the worse thing about the place was the food. When I told him about you and the boys being the reason that he's free he decided that he wanted to meet all of you and thank you in person. Ask the boys what they think about meeting a convicted mass murderer and I promise that I'll have him checked out at St. Mungo's before Christmas.

Aside from saving the life of an innocent man, how has school been so far? You've only written one letter. I want to hear all about your lessons. Has your class blown up any cauldrons yet?

Love from,

Uncle Remus

* * *

 _Letter from Patricia Stimpson to Remus Lupin, dated September 19th, 1989_

Dear Uncle Remus,

Fred and George are a bit too excited about meeting a convicted mass murderer. Everyone saw the _Prophet_ yesterday and they came and asked about Mr. Black before Benvolio could even give me your letter. Lee says he has to ask his parents first but he thinks they'll be okay with it.

We haven't blown anything up in Potions yet. The Gryffindor/Slytherin class has had three cauldrons explode though. One of them was Towler's and Lee had to take him to the Hospital Wing because his eyes turned back to front.

Defense is my favourite class. Professor Darrow has us working on Shield Charms and he taught us some spells to test them with. Nothing really dangerous, just the Jelly-Jegs Jinx and the Tickling Charm. We haven't all been able to get them but he says we're doing well. We've got an essay to hand in tomorrow on the difference between jinxes and counter-jinxes… _(The letter continues for two feet of parchment)._

See you in December.

Love,

Patricia

* * *

 _October 31_ _st_ _, 1989- The first floor girl's lavatory, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland_

The Hallowe'en feast was in full swing in the Great Hall. All the students were enjoying themselves. Laughter and squeals echoed through the corridors. "Why are you crying?" Patricia hastily wiped the tears from her face.

"I'm sorry! I didn't know anyone was in here." She looked up and wasn't even surprised when she saw the head of a ghost girl sticking through the cubical door.

"Was someone making fun of you?" the ghost girl asked. "That's why I'm here."

"Who are you?" Patricia asked. She hadn't seen any ghost children in the school before. The girl looked surprised, like she'd never had anyone ask her name before.

"I'm Myrtle. Myrtle Warren." She looked down at Patricia's robes. "I was a Ravenclaw to."

"I'm Patricia." She tilted her head. She had asked Nick, and the Fat Friar. They had been quite happy to talk. She could ask Myrtle. "Myrtle, if you don't mind talking about it, how did you die?" Myrtle's face brightened. She straightened up, her body split in half by the door.

"Ohh, it was awful. It happened right in that cubical." She pointed through the wall to her right. "I was in there, crying because Olive Hornby had been teasing me about my glasses, and I heard someone speaking. It was a _boy_. I opened the door to tell him to use his own washroom and then…I died."

"Just like that?"

"Well, I saw some snaky yellow eyes first and my body sort of seized up."

"Did it hurt?"

"Oh no, it was just like going to sleep. I was just floating…but then I came back. I wanted to make Olive Hornby pay. She was sorry that she ever teased me."

"That's good." Myrtle grinned.

"Yes, it is. What are you doing here?" Patricia scrubbed her face again.

"My parents were killed on Hallowe'en. This is the first year I haven't visited their grave." Myrtle looked at her and for a moment Patricia felt embarrassed. She was talking to a girl who had been dead for years. Myrtle wouldn't see anything upsetting in her parents being dead.

"Nick and the Baron are having a duel in the seventh-floor corridor." Myrtle said at last. "Do you want to come watch with me?"

"Ghosts can duel?"

"Of course we can." Myrtle pulled a ghostly wand out of her sleeve. "We can still do spells if we die with our wands, they just don't affect livers." Patricia giggled.

"Is that what you call people who're alive, 'livers'?" Myrtle shrugged.

"That's what I call them." She turned around and floated through the door. Patricia left the cubical just in time to see the ghost girl coming back through the wall by the sinks. "Are you coming?"

Patricia looked around the washroom. She wished that she could be at the cemetery with her parents, but spending Hallowe'en in the company of a different sort of dead people didn't sound like a bad thing. And a ghost duel was definitely something that one didn't often get the chance to see.

"I'm coming."


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

 _November 2_ _nd_ _, 1989-_ _Remus Lupin's cottage, Yorkshire County, England_

The Healer at St. Mungo's hadn't been overly concerned about Siruis' sanity when he saw that the last member of the Black family was able to walk and his own and talk in full sentences. He had still done a full scan, but had quickly proclaimed Sirius to be completely healthy, aside from malnutrition that could be treated with a single potion. That potion though reacted badly with alcohol so Sirius was left to look longingly at the drink in Remus' hand while his friend downed it.

"You want to do what?" Remus asked after he'd taken the time needed to finish his drink to also calm himself down.

"It's just a trip to London, Moony. Nothing bad will happen."

"You don't know the Weasley twins."

"They can't be worse than we were in school."

"They got the elves to hit Dumbledore in the face with a cream pie." Sirius blinked and burst out laughing.

"How did they manage that?"

"Apparently they just asked. But can you see why it would be a bad idea to take them to Muggle London?"

"Eh, kind of. They did go after Dumbledore though. That was smart." Remus shook his head.

"I'm not going to be able to talk you out of this, am I?" Sirius grinned.

"Have you ever been able to?"

The answer to that was "No." Remus sighed. "Fine, but you have to ask their parents."

"Alright, can I use your fireplace?"

"It's not connected to the Floo Network—"

"Can we go to your girlfriend's and ask to use her fireplace?"

"—and it's five o'clock in the morning. Go back to sleep, Padfoot." Sirius stuck out his tongue and got up from the couch.

"Fine. It's not my fault that you woke me up trying to sneak in."

"I told you I work nights!"

"Whatever you say, Moony." Remus groaned softly as Siruis went back to the bedroom. He couldn't wait until they got his flat cleaned up so that the former prisoner of Azkaban could move out. He had forgotten how annoying his friend could be.

* * *

 _November 3_ _rd_ _,1989- The Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland_

Violet Moon stared down the end of her wand. Her roommates watched her and held their breath. " _Expecto patronum!_ " A faint wisp of silvery light rose from the end of her wand and disappeared. Grace Abbot squealed and jumped up and down. Patricia Stimpson screamed while Noe Lie grinned broadly.

"You did it!" Violet suddenly found it hard to breathe as Grace captured her in a bone-crushing hug. "You did it!"

"Very good, Miss Moon," Professor Darrow said with a smile. "That's more than I would expect any first year to accomplish." Professor Babbling nodded.

After Grace finished squeezing her friend to a pulp the other girls took what were their third tries at the Patronus Charm, for that lesson. They'd had three lessons previously and none of them had been able to produce so much as a spark. This time was apparently the charm as each of them managed to produce something before the lesson ended.

"I'm proud of you, Patricia," Violet heard Professor Babbling say as she walked them back to Ravenclaw Tower. "Not many first years would think of trying to learn as much as you have."

"Thank you Ba—Professor. This was Noe's idea though."

"But you're all putting the work in. Most Ravenclaws would only care about knowing the all theory behind the charm, not being able to do it. Patronuses aren't something that wizards need every day."

"Neither are runes," Patricia pointed out. "This is practice for Rune Mastery work." Professor Babbling laughed.

"Oh, Patricia, Rune Mastery will be much harder than this. You really should have been a Hufflepuff."

 _"I am tall when I'm young; I am short when I'm old. What am I?"_ asked the eagle doorknocker.

"You are a quill," replied Grace, who was the one who had knocked. "Because quills become shorter the more they are used."

 _"Well-reasoned."_ The door swung open. The four of them said goodnight to Professor Babbling before entering their packed common room. It was very close to curfew, so all of the students who would rather be in the library had no choice but to squeeze around desks and try to finish essays and star charts without poking someone in the eye with their quill.

The first year boys had escaped to their dorm room, and the girls did the same, shutting the door just as Penelope Clearwater decided that she wouldn't go up to ask them if they had done their homework. She was stuck between three other people and a wall after all.

Patricia grabbed a book off her bed as soon as she reached it. Violet wasn't sure where she slept because her entire bed was covered with books. She picked one up and read the title page.

"Patricia, why are you reading about one-hundred and one recipes that use reptile meat?" Patricia looked up from the book she was reading.

"I'm not. I just forgot to return that one." Grace and Noe began digging through the rest of the books that were stacked on the bed.

" _Monsters and Madness_?"

" _Deadly Magical Beasts_?"

" _Dragon Species of Europe_?"

"What are you researching?" Patricia shrugged.

"Just something Myrtle mentioned."

"Myrtle who?" Violet asked. She was pretty sure that none of the Ravenclaws were named Myrtle.

"Myrtle Warren. She's the ghost that haunts the girls' washroom on the first floor." Grace frowned.

"The one that's always out of order? Why were you in there?"

"It was Hallowe'en," Patricia said shortly. She put her book back on her bed. "I'm going to get ready to sleep." As she went into their washroom her roommates looked at each other.

"What is with her?" Noe asked. Violet shrugged.

"I don't know. I call using the washroom next."

"Then me," Noe said quickly. Grace grumbled.

"Why am I always last?"

"You're just too slow."

* * *

 _December 16_ _th_ _, 1989- Platform 9 ¾ , King's Cross Station, London, England_

Fred and George were quick to be the first ones off the Hogwarts Express, mostly because they were being chased by an enraged Percy. Bill and Charlie Weasley both shook their heads at their brothers, both of them hiding their smiles as they went to meet their parents. Molly tried to hug all of her returning sons at once before she began to scold Fred and George for turning Percy's skin orange.

Remus was standing near the Weasley family with Sirius searching the crowd for a different redhead. She stepped off of the train with a group of her year mates and they overran the platform before she made her way to him. "Hi, Uncle Remus. Hello, Mr. Black." Sirius gave a sweeping bow.

"Greetings, Miss Stimpson, from your humble servant." Remus elbowed him and Patricia giggled.

Lee and the twins dragged their parents over to where Remus, Sirius and Patricia were standing, gaining even more attention than when Sirius had bowed. Sirius wanted to greet the boys the same way he had Patricia, but with Remus staring at him he decided to just go for handshakes.

"Thank you so much for getting me out of prison. Staring at walls gets boring after the first year."

"What's this Arthur was telling me about taking them to Muggle London?" Molly demanded. Remus managed not to roll his eyes, at her or at Sirius. Arranging everything with Arthur rather than Molly was a decision that Sirius would have to take the fallout for himself.

"Just a day trip, Molly. The four firsties, the Jordans, me, Remus, and Remus' girlfriend. You and the rest of the kids are welcome to come too, of course. We just didn't want to stress you out with the planning." Molly opened and closed her mouth.

"Well, that's very nice of you. I think you'll have your hands full with Fred and George—"

"Oi!"

"—but if the older ones would like to go," she looked over at Bill, Charlie, and Percy. "Who am I to refuse?" Bill grinned.

"We won't be any trouble, Mr. Black. Fred and George though…"

"We resent that!"

"Like we're going to wreck a trip to London—"

"—when we've never been to the Muggle side before!" David Jordan's eyes flicked back and forth between the Weasley twins as they spoke. This was the first time he had met his son's friends but he could see how earnest they were.

"I'm sure everything will go just fine, Mrs. Weasley. We'd better be going, but we'll see all of you on Monday, yes?"

"I'll be at work," Arthur said glumly. "But we could find some other time to get together over the holidays? That's what we usually do with the children's' friends."

"Definitely!" David shook Arthur's hand over little Ron Weasley's head. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise."

The Weasleys and Jordans moved towards the barrier between the Wizarding and Muggle platforms while Patricia was finally able to give Remus a hug. The platform was practically empty except for them and a few Muggleborns waiting to go through the barrier, so they didn't have to worry about anyone seeing them knowing that a pure-blood was hugging a possible werewolf.

"I missed you." Remus ruffled Patricia's hair with a smile.

"I missed you to. Let's go home."


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

 _December 18_ _th_ _, 1989-The British Museum, Great Russell St, London, England_

Asha Jordan was in heaven.

She was surrounded by kids, seven of them from her eleven-year-old Lee to nineteen-year old Bill Weasley (who still counted as a kid in her book, never mind what the laws said), in a museum that she loved, with her husband by her side. She couldn't be happier.

"What's that, Mrs. Jordan?" one of the Weasley twins asked, pointing at a helmet. She thought that it was Fred, but she wasn't sure.

"That's a murmillo's helmet from Pompeii. A murmillo was a type of gladiator."

"It looks kind of like a fish," the other twin said. "A big green fish that would live in the Black Lake."

"Do you think merpeople ride them?" Patricia Stimpson asked seriously. The four eleven-year-olds laughed.

"Learn Mermish and ask," Remus Lupin suggested. "You can add it to your list."

"What list?" Percy Weasley asked. The four first years began explaining Patricia's Hogwarts bucket-list to Percy, who was very approving.

"What do you want to do once you're done with school, Bill?" Charlotte Greene asked the eldest Weasley. "You're in seventh year, aren't you?" Bill nodded as he watched Charlie point out a carving of a dragon to Sirius Black.

"Yes, mam. I'm not really sure what I'm going to do. My mum wants me to work for the Ministry but…" he hesitated. "I want to be a cursebreaker."

"My brother's a cursebreaker," Charlotte said lightly. "Perhaps you'd like to speak with him?" Bill's face lit up.

"That'd be great!"

"Is Friday good for you?"

"Yes, Miss Greene." Charlotte smiled.

"Good. I can force him to come home for Christmas. Finally."

"Glad to be of service."

"I told you this was a good idea, Moony," Sirius said with a grin.

"That kids are enjoying themselves," Remus admitted. Patricia and her friends were running around looking at tapestries while the elder Weasleys had left with the Jordans to look at a collection of medieval weapons. "It's certainly going better than your other past-midnight plans. Remember when you decided to climb Gryffindor Tower in fourth year?" Sirius groaned.

"Vividly. That was one time, Moony. One time."

"Trying to break into the Slytherin common room from the lake?"

"Two times."

"What about when—"

"Okay! So I don't have the greatest track record. It worked this time, that's all that matters."

"You're an idiot."

"Don't let your daughter hear you say that." Remus shook his head.

"She's not my daughter, Padfoot. You know that's not allowed. Bloody Ministry," he muttered the last sentence but Charlotte heard him as she came to join them. She kissed his cheek.

"It's not the entire Ministry's fault that good werewolves aren't recognized," she said quietly. "You're doing the same as that Umbridge woman."

"Sorry, love."

Sirius left the two lovebirds alone and went to run around the museum with the other children. By the time their group got back together the kids were talking over each other about what they had seen and the adults (plus Sirius) were pleasantly tired and quite ready to head back to Diagon Alley to Floo home.

"Thanks for everything, Mr. Black," Bill said when they got to The Leaky Cauldron. "We had a great time."

"You're welcome, Bill." Sirius handed Bill the jar of Floo powder that he'd gotten from Tom. "Have a safe trip." Remus elbowed him.

"We're going with them, remember?"

"Right," Sirius choked out. "I think you bruised my liver."

Patricia waved goodbye to Lee and his parents before accepting the Floo powder from Charlie. After he had gone spinning away through the fireplace, she took a handful and passed the jar back to Remus. She took a deep breath before throwing the powder into the flames, which made saying "The Burrow" a lot easier than if she had breathed in a ton of ash.

"So," Sirius said to Remus once all the kids had gone "about that New Year's party—"

"No, Sirius. Just no."

* * *

 _June 1_ _st_ _, 1990- The Library, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland_

Lee, Fred, and George were trying, and failing, to get the Ravenclaw girls to stop studying.

"Look how nice it is outside," Lee wheedled. "Wouldn't you rather be sitting out by the lake?"

"Where we can talk—"

"—without Madame Pince hovering over our shoulders."

"We've only got a week before exams," Patricia reminded them as she turned the page of her Potions textbook. "You should be studying to." The boys blushed.

"Well yeah, but we're working on this prank—"

"—for after exams to get everyone's spirits up."

"Especially Gryffindor—"

"—since we've lost Quidditch and the House Cup."

"But we need your help."

"Why don't you owl Mr. Black," Grace Abbot suggested. "That's what you've been doing all week, isn't it?"

"Yeeeessss," Lee said "but we need inside help for the last bit."

"I don't think we want to know what that is," Violet Moon muttered. She frowned and reread a sentence of her DADA notes. "Isn't it curses that need intent? I've got it as jinxes."

"It's curses," Noe Lie replied absentmindedly. Violet scribbled over her notes and made the correction. "Do Moly plants have black roots or white roots?"

"Black." Noe nodded. Fred and George tried to turn the conversation back to pranking.

"Look, it would just be—"

"—casting some spells. We need more people—"

"—because we don't think we'll be able to finish it alone."

"Not on time anyway."

Patricia tilted her head sideways and looked up at the boys. Just casting some spells, they said… "What sort of spells?"

"Targeted ones."

"Transfiguring ones." A smile crept over Patricia's face as she thought of all the possibilities for the prank's results. Grace groaned and put her head on her textbook.

"That's it! We may as well pack up now, girls. We've lost her." Patricia giggled. It wasn't her fault that she couldn't resist a good prank. She had been raised by a Marauder!

"Shall we step out to our office?" Fred and George asked. Patricia grinned and Violet joined Grace in putting her head down and lamenting.

"Lets."

Planning the prank was actually harder than exams. Professor Darrow had them have a mock battle with stinging hexes and shield charms for their practical. The longer you lasted the more marks you got, simple. Everyone who wasn't a Ravenclaw would have failed History of Magic if Professor Binns actually marked the exams properly. Instead, according to all the older students, he marked all of them as if they were written by a Towler ancestor and everyone passed.

When their last exam was done the first years went and sat outside on what was another beautiful day, though all of the boys stayed far away from the lake. Patricia smiled to herself. That prank was still going strong.

After a night of sneaking around under House Elf invisibility charms, the Gryffindor/Ravenclaw prank group went down to breakfast with yawns and bags under their eyes. Casting the spells had taken a long time, and it was made even harder by the fact that Gryffindor House had been celebrating the end of the school year until 'wait, what time is it?' o'clock in the morning. That at least gave the boys an excuse for their obvious exhaustion. The girls had to tell everyone who asked that they'd been going though all their exam questions and hope that no one asked about them.

Noe's eyes widened when she saw Patricia eating breakfast as normal. "What—" Violet elbowed her friend and Noe quickly changed her question. "—did you get for question seven on the Charms exam?" Penelope Clearwater, who had sat down next to the first year girls, rolled her eyes.

"Don't worry, Lie, you'll pass. Ravenclaws always do." She began nibbling on a bit of toast. The three first year girls looked at each other and started on their breakfasts as well.

The first post owls soon arrived. Benvolio landed on the edge of Patricia's bowl of porridge and gave her a letter before stealing a strip of bacon from Grace and flying away to escape the coming chaos. Patricia tucked the letter into her robes and started mentally counting down. At 'one' it began.

Adrian Pucey was just lowering his goblet when he saw the scales forming on his hand. He spit out his mouthful of pumpkin juice, which hit Cassius Warrington in his slit-nosed face. The unwelcome transformation left Adrian a very unhappy snake when it was over. Not as unhappy as Warrington though. He would have been spitting mad if they had been turned into a type of snake that could spit.

Over at the Hufflepuff table the badgers that had been students were rolling around laughing at each other. Laughing with each other? Laughing with each other, that was loyalty right there. The mix of eagles and ravens at the Ravenclaw table (since all of the pranksters thought that Ravenclaw's symbol being an eagle made no sense) stood frozen on the benches until the birds that had been the first year boys thought that it might not be a bad idea to try a bit of low flying. The rest of their house ended up joining them, because they were birds and it would be criminal not to fly. Gryffindor's lion cubs (because no one was crazy enough to set full grown lions loose in the Great Hall) were play fighting, except for one cub that was trying to stop them.

That was probably Percy Weasley.

The teachers sitting at the High Table just stared at the menagerie until tiny Professor Flitwick let out a laugh. He clapped his hands over his mouth but wasn't able to stop a giggle from escaping. All attention was diverted from him when another laugh sounded, one that had never been heard in Hogwarts before.

Professor Snape was laughing.

The student-animals stopped what they were doing and stared at the Potions professor. His face turned red and his eyes bugged out as belly shaking laughter bubbled out of his throat. Then the potion kicked in for the rest of the professors and they all started laughing. It wasn't _just_ the potion though. Anyone would have laughed had they been in the Great Hall that morning.

It was the first success for the New Marauders.

* * *

A/n: Happy New Year! Best of luck for 2016!

-Cynder2013


	16. Chapter 15

Requiescat in pace, Alan Rickman.

* * *

Chapter 15

 _August 15_ _th_ _,1990-The Burrow, Ottery St Catchpole, Devon, England_

"George Weasley, get back here!"

"Fred, I'm going to strangle you!"

The Twins cackled with delight as they ran away from Lee and Patricia, who were both covered in singed feathers. Bill gave them a passing glace as they ran, molting, through the kitchen and then went back to the forms that were scattered all over the table. Albert Greene blinked.

"Does that happen a lot?"

"Hmm?" Bill asked. "Only when all four of them are here. Usually it's just explosions."

"Oh." Albert looked at the form Bill was working on. "You'll want to put Professor McGonagall's name on that one. I'm not the best reference with wizards."

"Alright."

Lee and Patricia collapsed under the tree that Fred and George had climbed up. The ground around them was covered with the feathers that had grown on them when the potion they had been working on exploded. Patricia wasn't sure how that had happened; they had checked everything over before they started and gotten Mr. Black to make totally sure that everything was safe.

Lee coughed. "Let's never do that again."

"Agreed."

Fred looked down over the edge of a branch. "Is it safe to come down?"

"Maybe," Patricia yelled up to him. Fred and George took that as a 'yes' and climbed quickly to the ground, dropping to sit either side of their friends.

"I can't believe summer is almost over," George groaned. "School starts in two weeks!"

"At least we're done our homework," Fred pointed out.

"You're welcome." Patricia smiled.

"Ravenclaw," the boys muttered.

They sat under the tree until Mrs. Weasley called everyone for lunch. Charlie and Ron came tromping in after the rest of them. They had been out flying and Mrs. Weasley yelled at them for getting dirt from the broom shed all over the floor.

The meal was one tick away from complete chaos like all meals at the Burrow were, but they got though it without any major mishaps. After lunch the soon-to-be-second years were clearing the table when Benvolio, Patricia's snowy owl, flew in through the open window. He landed on the chair in front of Patricia and handed her the paper he held clamped in his beak.

"How did you manage to hold on to that?" Patricia asked as she took the paper from him. Benvolio hooted. Patricia unfolded the paper and read the short note in Remus's handwriting:

 _Taking Sirius to St. Mungo's. Stay at the Burrow if I don't pick you up. –Remus_

"What is it, dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked, seeing the frown on the girl's face.

"Uncle Remus had to take Mr. Black to the hospital," Patricia told her. "He wants me to stay here if he doesn't get to pick me up. Is that alright?"

"Yes, Patricia, that's fine." Merlin knows if the house would be standing. "You can sleep in Ginny's room if you have to stay overnight."

"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley. Hopefully that won't be needed." It was. Four o'clock came and went, and though Lee's dad came to pick him up Remus was nowhere to be seen. Mr. Greene had left a long time ago. Patricia was settled into the unexplainable extra bed in Ginny's room by eight. The nine-year-old looked at her over the top of her book.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Patricia sniffed, trying to stop the tears that were threatening to fall. "I'm just worried." She had sent Benvolio off after he'd had a bit of a rest with a letter asking Remus what had happened. A letter that the owl had returned with. Mr. Weasley had said that they wouldn't allow owls into Saint Mungo's unless there was a life-threatening situation, but she was still afraid that something bad had happened to Remus and Mr. Black.

"I'm sure they'll be fine," Ginny said. "Do you mind if I turn the light off?"

"Go ahead." The room was plunged into darkness. Patricia pulled the quilt up to her chin and stared at a crack in the ceiling until she fell into a fitful sleep.

* * *

 _August 16_ _th_ _,1990 (Early morning)- St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries First Floor - Creature-Induced Injuries, London, England_

"You can't say that's a terrible idea, Moony."

"I can't, but this isn't the time or the place, Sirius. You were bleeding out three hours ago."

"So?"

"You're an idiot."

"No I'm not, I'm Sirius."

"Then you're a serious idiot. Look, there's a healer. Do you want me to ask him if I can put a silencing spell on you?"

"…no."

"Then we can wait to talk about this with everyone involved."

* * *

 _August 17_ _th_ _, 1990- Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, London, England_

Sirius picked at his bacon and eggs to stop himself from scratching his arm. The Healers at Saint Mungo's had finally figured out what combination of potions to use to flush the poison out of the bite and were able to steal the wound, but it still itched like crazy. They said that the itching would stop in a few days, but in the meantime he was stuck trying not to scratch and cursing doxy-spider-who-knows-what-the-hell-else hybrids with every other breath.

Shouts of " _HALF-BREED FILTH! CREATURES AND TRAITORS BEFILING THE HOUSE OF MY FATHERS! BLOOD TRAITORS BESMIRCHING OUR GOOD NAME!_ " from the painting of Walburga Black made it clear that Remus was back, and he'd brought Patricia with him. Sirius wondered for a moment if he should go help them wrestle the curtains back over the painting when the screeching stopped and several sets of feet began making their way to the kitchen.

"Thank you so much for your help, Padfoot," Remus said dryly.

"You took care of it," Sirius pointed out. He looked behind his friend. "And who are these lovely ladies?" Patricia rolled her eyes.

"You're right, Uncle Remus. He's fine."

Bathsheda cautiously followed the other two into the kitchen. Remus and Patricia had both assured her that Sirius Black wasn't dangerous, no more than he'd been in school anyway, but Patricia was a child and Remus Lupin was Remus Lupin. He and his friends didn't seem to know what the word meant.

"Have you eaten yet?" Sirius got up from the table and went over to the pan keeping warm on the stove. Patricia shook her head and he dished up plates for them.

Patricia diligently ate her breakfast and listened with one ear to the conversation that the adults were having. She tried to yawn while swallowing a sip of tea and drew their attention through the resulting frenzied coughing. "I'm fine!" Bathsheda handed the girl her handkerchief and Patricia dabbed at her eyes. "I vote yes."

Remus blinked. "Are you sure?"

"Were you really listening?" Bathsheda asked. Patricia nodded.

"And I've read enough, professor. Lots of people at school kept asking me why I wasn't dead, so I looked some things up." Actually, she looked a lot of things up. She had turned into Madame Pince's favourite student because she took out so many books and still managed to return them in perfect condition.

"I don't want to move to Greece or Bulgaria. England, the Nest, is home. So yes, I'm sure, Uncle Remus." Remus nodded slowly. Sirius patted him on the back.

"Don't worry, Moony, no one's going to be leaving anywhere. I'll get the paperwork started, and finished, tonight. Don't tell anyone."

"Of course not!" Bathsheda exclaimed, giving Patricia a hug. "Merlin help us if the Malfoys get wind of this."

There was a cough and they all turned to see the house-elf standing in the doorway. Sirius opened his mouth but ended up completely speechless when he realized that he was smiling.

"Kreacher is proud of his master," the elf said in his deep voice. "Master is finally acting like a proper Black!"


	17. Chapter 16: Patty's 2nd Year

Chapter 16

 _September 1_ _st_ _, 1990-_ _Platform 9 ¾, King's Cross Station, London, England_

Sirius Black was drawing a lot of attention on Platform Nine and Three Quarters. It could have been the fact that he was there in the first place, or it could have been the fact that he was accompanying a redheaded girl with more than a passing resemblance to him.

"Patricia?" Noe asked with surprise when she collided with the girl. Patricia smiled at her roommate.

"Good morning! It's great to see you."

"You look different. Did you do something with your hair?" Patricia tilted her head.

"No, I don't think so. I'm going to go find a compartment. I'll see you on the train?"

"I'll find you."

Noe hurried after her parents while Patricia and Sirius weaved towards the train. Patricia didn't need as much help with her trunk this year thanks to a summer growth spurt so they were quickly able to get it on the train and into a compartment where Lee, Violet, and Grace were already settled.

As usual, the Weasleys were running late.

"Bye, Papa," Patricia said. Sirius ruffled her hair.

"See you in four months, Pup." Patricia stuck her tongue out at him and turned back to the compartment as he left the train. Her friends, who had been watching the entire display with rapt attention, blinked almost in unison and let loose with a flood of questions. Benvolio hooted shrilly and they all went silent.

"I'll tell you when Noe and the twins get here," Patricia said. "Assuming Fred and George don't miss the train."

Fred and George squeezed into the compartment a few minutes after Noe, just before the train was set to leave. "Cutting it close again?" Patricia asked. The twins nodded.

"Charlie forgot his broom—"

"—and Percy switched his charms textbook with Bill's old one." Grace raised an eyebrow.

"Are you sure that wasn't you?"

"It wasn't us—"

"—promise."

"We don't want to risk the wrath of you Ravenclaws."

The seven of them bumped into each other as the train started moving. There was a brief scuffle before everyone was in a seat. They were packed in like sardines and questioning the wisdom of trying to fit in one compartment.

"So," Grace said to Patricia after moving closer to the window so that Violet's elbow wasn't digging into her ribs, "what's this big announcement you have to make?"

"Sirius Black adopted me."

"What!" the other six shouted. "What?" Violet asked. "How did that happen?"

"Well…"

* * *

 _August 20_ _th_ _, 1990-_ _Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, London, England_

"Time's up!" Sirius cheered. It had been forty-eight hours since he'd submitted the adoption paperwork to the Ministry and, by their rules, as the head of an Ancient and Noble House they could no longer stop him from proceeding.

The Ministry of Magic had a lot of stupid rules like that for the benefit of the magical elite. It felt good to use one of them against them.

Remus smiled shakily. "Good thing we've got the room all ready. I didn't expect Kreacher to be so much help."

"He has changed, hasn't he? Who knew acting Slytherin was all I needed for him to actually like me?"

"Not me." Remus tapped the surface of his porridge with the back of his spoon. It made an interesting plopping noise. Sirius grabbed his wrist.

"Remus, what's wrong? I'm not taking her away from you; we're doing this so she _can't_ be taken away." Remus sighed.

"I know, I know. I'm…just jealous I suppose. _I_ could adopt her in the Muggle world, but here I'd never be able to just because I'm a werewolf. Someone like Greyback should never be allowed to have kids, but not all werewolves are like him." Sirius nodded slowly.

"I know who you are, Remus, and you _are_ an amazing dad, furry little problem or not. If the Ministry can't see that then they're bigger idiots than I am." Remus laughed and Sirius gave a thankful smile. Remus in a funk was not his favourite Remus to deal with, only slightly above full moon Remus.

"The girls are in the library." That room had thankfully been magically sealed so they hadn't had to do any cleaning. Merlin knows what would have been growing in there otherwise. "We can get ready for the ritual _after you finish your breakfast._ " Remus blushed and quickly dug into his full bowl of porridge.

12 Grimmauld Place, unlike the pureblood manors out in the country, had a special room for performing rituals in. This was because many magical rituals had to take place outdoors but, being in the middle of London, the Black family didn't have that option unless they wanted to work in the tiny backyard. So some family member had come up with the idea of bringing the outside in, so to speak. The ritual room was an empty meadow with a slab of slate serving as part of the ground. It was magically disconnected from the rest of the building so that any explosions or backlash wouldn't destroy the entire house.

Bathsheda had burnt a circle of runes into the grass with Krecher's help while Remus cut the _jardarmen_ , a strip of turf attached to the ground at both ends that would be held up in the middle by Bathsheda's staff, across the circle. They had started when Sirius went to submit the documents and finished the night before.

Sirius and Patricia stood on opposite sides of the _jardarmen_ inside the circle of runes that had started to glow white as soon as Bathsheda propped up the turf with her staff. The shard of quartz encased in the cage of maple at the top of the staff pulsed with the same white light. Patricia's face was pale. She looked over at Remus, who nodded encouragingly from his place outside the circle.

After the runes were charged, Bathsheda began.

"I call the ancestors of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black as witness, I call the ancestors of House Stimpson as witness." The circle's runes changed colour. On Sirius's side they became a smoky grey and behind Patricia they alternated blue and green. Ghostly figures rose from several runes on each side, watching silently. Bathsheda forced back tears when she saw Patricia's parents standing behind her.

"Welcome, House Black, Patricia Stimpson, to be daughter in blood of thy son Sirius Orion Black. Welcome, House Stimpson, Sirius Orion Black, to be father in blood of thy daughter, Patricia Stimpson." Patricia and Sirius bowed to the ancestors opposite them. The Stefanov/Floros/Stimpson ancestors bowed back and, surprisingly, so did the Black ancestors. Apparently the ritual called up only the sane, non-bigoted ancestors. It was nice to know that the Black family had some.

When Sirius and Patricia had straightened up out of their bows, Bathsheda handed Sirius, hilt first, the iron dagger that had been in the Black family for generations. He drew it across his palm before handing it to Patricia, who looked at the blade for a moment before copying his motions. She bit her lip but didn't cry out. Blood dripped to the bare earth under the _jardarmen_ as they clasped their hands together.

"I, Sirius Orion Black, claim thee, Patricia Stimpson, as my daughter. Thou shall be blood of my blood and a true daughter of the House of Black."

"I, Patricia Stimpson, accept thee, Sirius Orion Black, as my father. I shall be blood of thy blood and a true daughter of the House of Black." As Patricia spoke the last word she felt the cut on her palm healing. Bathsheda took the dagger that she was still holding and touched each of her shoulders with the flat of the blade.

"Thou art now Patricia Adhara Stimpson-Black. Let there be blessings upon the joining of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black and House Stimpson."

"So mote it be," Sirius and Patricia said in unison.

Bathsheda took her staff out from under the strip of turf, which she let fall to the ground. The ancestors disappeared in a flash of white light, taking the runes with them and leaving the grass whole and unburnt. Bathsheda swayed slightly as the circle broke, but Sirius grabbed her arm and helped her to stay upright. "Methinks the lady needs a rest."

"It should be 'The lady needs a rest, methinks'," Patricia corrected. Remus laughed at the look on Sirius's face.

"You're going to need to read Shakespeare if you want to keep up with your daughter, Black," Bathsheda said with a tired smile.

"Only after I read all the letters we'll be getting from the Ministry," Sirius decided. "Bet you there'll be at least two today, Remus."

"Three, plus two from Gringotts."

"Deal." Bathsheda rolled her eyes.

"Men."

* * *

 _September 1_ _st_ _, 1990-_ _Travelling on the Hogwarts Express_

"Why didn't you write to tell us?" Grace demanded after Patricia had finished telling them about the blood adoption ritual.

"Papa wanted me to keep it a secret. He thought it would be a good prank, especially since the Ministry doesn't seem to know about it yet." Wide grins started creeping over Fred and George's faces.

"That-"

"-may be-"

"-the greatest start-of-year prank-"

"-ever!"

"I wouldn't go that far," Lee said. "Last year's merboy prank was pretty good."

"That was you?" Grace and Violet asked. "Why are we surprised?" Grace added. The twins shrugged.

"It was really-"

"-Patty's prank."

"Don't call me Patty."

"It's less of a mouthful than Patricia Adhara Stimpson-Black," Fred said, twisting his face comically as he said the name. "Is that even English?" Patricia stuck her tongue out at him.

"Noe, could you slap Fred for me please?"

"I don't think so. I could elbow him."

"That'll do." Fred yelped as the tiny girl dug her elbow into his ribs.

"So you look different because it was a blood adoption," Violet concluded. Patricia nodded. She had screamed the first time she saw herself in a mirror, and nearly given Kreacher a heart attack. The childish roundness that her face had been holding onto had been replaced by the Black family's defined cheekbones, and her eyes had darkened noticeably.

"And now I'm related to these two." Patricia jerked her head towards Fred and George. Her roommates groaned.

"The pranks are going to be even worse this year," Violet predicted. "Do you think we'll get enough homework to back out?"

"Maybe," Grace said. "And we've still got our patronuses to work on."

"Bet you animagus lessons take longer," Lee said. "We're meeting McGonagall twice a week."

"We're going to practice every night," Grace countered.

"I have to do both," Patricia said.

Their compartment was silent for a moment. Benvolio hooted. Then Grace said, "You win." She tossed Patricia one of the Cholate Frogs that she had bought when the trolley came around. "So, is anyone else trying out for Quidditch this year?" Three answers in the affirmative turned their conversation into a friendly argument about which of their teams was better that lasted until they were twenty minutes away from Hogwarts and had to turn their attention to how they were going to get their robes on without anyone getting elbowed in the face.

They were only second years. The compartment really shouldn't have been that crowded.


	18. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

 _September 1_ _st_ _, 1990- The Great Hall, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland_

They couldn't all fit into the horseless carriages that took them up to the school, definitely not. So they split down House lines and the girls spent the entire ride speculating what pranks and disasters the boys were planning.

The Sorting was shorter than it had been the year before. The new first years had been born in the middle of the war; it was no wonder that there were so few of them. Ravenclaw got six firsties, including a "Chang, Cho!" and a "Carmichael, Eddie" as well as Marcus Belby, who Patricia was sure was related to Damocles Belby, the wizard who had invented the Wolfsbane potion. Gryffindor only got four, and the only girl was Katie Bell. She was quickly invited by Angelina to room with the second year girls, and accepted when the others made it clear that she was welcome.

The other new face in the room belonged to a clean-shaven young wizard who was sitting in the seat that Professor Darrow had occupied last year. The elderly Defense professor was nowhere to be seen.

After they finished eating, Dumbledore stood and delivered his start-of-year speech. "I am sad to inform you," he said eventually, "that Professor Darrow passed away over the summer." He paused and waited for the cries and exclamations to die down. "In his place, Professor Geoff will be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts." Geoff waved and there was a limp round of applause that ended quickly.

Dumbledore wrapped up his speech and sent them off to bed. The Ravenclaws got a rude welcome from Peeves, who dive-bombed them with an endless bucketful of water balloons. Once the soaking wet second year girls had made their way up to their dorm room, Grace said what they were all thinking.

"This is rotten."

"At least it can't get worse," Violet said hopefully as she wrung her hair out the window.

"It can always get worse," Patricia contradicted grimly.

"I'm trying to be optimistic."

"I'm being realistic. Let's go find Penelope, maybe she knows some drying charms."

* * *

 _October 31_ _st_ _, 1990- Seventh-floor corridor, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland_

Myrtle cheered as Nearly-Headless Nick hit the Bloody Baron with a knee-reversal hex. Waldo fired a stunner back and quickly fixed his knees while Nick's head was flapping all over the place as he dodged. "Hit him again, Nick!"

"Get him, Waldo!" Patricia cheered in retaliation. Myrtle's hand went through her head and she felt like a bucket of ice water had just been dumped on her.

The two ghosts fired spells at each other so fast that Patricia blinked and missed Nick getting hit by something that made spider legs sprout out of his forehead. Nick fired a volley of spells back and suddenly Waldo was without a mouth and had his eyelashes growing out in ringlets. Before he could undo the damage Nick hit him with one more spell and had him tied up with thick ropes.

"The victory goes to Sir Nicolas de Mimsy-Porpington!" the Fat Friar announced. "For the fifteenth time in a row." Waldo rolled his eyes, possibly, it was hard to see behind his eyelash ringlets, and shook Nick's hand grimly.

"Next time, Nick."

"Of course, Baron." Waldo floated away though the wall while Nick turned to their audience. "Well, did you find that more exciting than last year?"

"Oh, you did a wonderful job, Nick," Myrtle purred. Nick gave a sweeping bow.

"Thank you, my dear." Myrtle's cheeks turned from white to grey. She was blushing.

"What was that spell you used that turned his knees back to front?" Patricia asked.

"That, my fair lady, was the knee-reversal hex. Very useful for distracting dastardly villains so that you can make the killing blow!" Patricia nodded. She didn't bother asking if he could teach it to her. She'd learned last year that ghost spells were spoken upside down and backwards compared to regular spells. She'd look it up when she had the time.

As the rest of the ghosts floated away though the walls, Myrtle turned to Patricia. "What should we do now?"

"We could…" Patricia trailed off. Out of the corner of her eye she saw shadows moving across the floor. Her wand shot into her hand and she ducked behind the ballet trolls tapestry. Myrtle hovered in the middle of the corridor and watched as the owners of the shadows turned the corner.

"Oh, it's you," she said flatly.

"Hullo, Myrtle," Fred said cheerfully. "Have you seen Patty?"

"Don't call her Patty. _Patricia_ is behind the tapestry." Myrtle floated away through the wall as Patricia emerged without so much as a goodbye, no doubt going for a sulk in her washroom.

"What're you doing up here?" George asked.

"You're missing the feast," Fred pointed out. Patricia shrugged uncomfortably.

"The Hallowe'en feast isn't my favourite thing. I never planned on going."

"You could tell us next time you decide to skip."

"We were getting worried."

"Thought you'd been eaten by a troll."

"Grace told us to look for you-"

"-and you know how scary she can be."

"Funny thing is-"

"-she never said what to do once we'd found you."

Patricia's stomach growled and she blushed. The twins grinned and linked arms with her. "Go to the kitchens," they said in unison. "Hang on," George said. He took the Marauder's Map out of his pocket. "Mischief managed."

Once they'd tickled the pear in the painting of a fruit bowl they entered the kitchens though the resulting door and were swarmed by house-elves. "Why is misters Weasley and missy Patty not being at the feast?"

Fred and George looked like they wanted to laugh, but instead they said, "Patricia isn't comfortable going to the feast. Could we eat down here?" The elves were delighted by the request and immediately set about gathering three plates of food and ushering the three children to sit at the kitchen's replica High Table.

"Only the elves get to call me Patty," Patricia hissed after they were seated. "Clear?"

"Crystal," George snickered. Patricia reached over and slapped the back of his head. A few of the elves laughed at him.

"So, are you having any luck with your animagus exercises?" Fred asked. Patricia took a sip from her goblet of gillywater.

"Some. I think my form has fur."

"Well, that's something. I've had nothing." Fred pointed his fork at his brother. "George thinks his might have a tail." Patricia shrugged.

"McGonagall won't let us actually try to transform until forth year anyway."

"Still, it would be nice to know something."

"You'll get it eventually, Gred."

"You know I will, Forge. What about your Patronus?" Patricia made a face.

"Professor Geoff practically laughed at us when we told him that Professor Darrow had been training us. We're making do on our own." Even with practicing every night, none of them advanced further than the silver mist they'd managed last year. Noe was sure they were doing something wrong, they hadn't practiced all summer after all, but none of the other teachers had time to help them.

"Well, you're all smart."

"And Geoff's a bigoted idiot."

"You got his werewolf lesson, right?" Patricia nodded. Geoff was _so_ lucky she didn't know any good hexes, and that her roommates had practically been sitting on her to stop her from marching to the front of the class and stabbing him with her potions knife.

"None of us Ravenclaw second years like him, and Penelope's got the rest of our House actually thinking about what he says instead of just taking it as fact."

"That's good." Fred swallowed a bite of turkey. "He'll probably be gone by the end of the year anyway. According to Bill, Professor Darrow was the only Defense professor to last more than a year since he started school." Darrow had been teaching Defense at Hogwarts for two years, which was absolutely miraculous.

"Let's hope. If not we'll have to drive him out next year." Fred and George grinned.

"Why wait?"


	19. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

 _November 1_ _st_ _,1990- Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland_

Operation Drive-Geoff-out-of-Hogwarts was off to a great start. They'd managed to recruit Lee and Patricia's roommates, as well as Towler and, for unknown reasons, the fourth year Ravenclaw girls. The first attack came at breakfast, when Geoff took a sip of pumpkin juice and immediately began braying like a donkey.

"This is w _ar_ , you ass," one of Penelope's roommates muttered into her pumpkin juice. One of her other roommates shushed her.

Geoff was still braying during his first class. He solved the problem of not being able to speak by assigning pages to read from the textbook. He still got humiliated though. At the beginning of the fourth year double Ravenclaw/Slytherin block his skin turned purple and he had to sit at the front of the class for the entire period while everyone was snickering at him behind their textbooks.

"So, that's day one," Lee stated while the group was gathered around a table at the back of the library. "What're we going to do tomorrow?"

Fred and George looked at the fourth year girls before saying, "We recently acquired some Bubotuber pus."

"Undiluted, of course."

"We could owl it to him." Penelope looked at her friends and they all decided not to ask the twins _where_ or _how_ they had gotten Bubotuber pus.

The other Ravenclaw girls frowned. "What's Bubotuber pus?" Grace asked.

"It's the pus from the swellings of a Bubotuber plant," Penelope told her. "It makes your skin swell up if it's undiluted."

"Oh."

Patricia was frowning for a different reason. "We were thinking we shouldn't do anything tomorrow. We don't want to make it obvious, right?"

"Who is this 'we'?" Fred asked. Patricia pointed to herself and then to each of her roommates. "Oh."

"So, skip a day then," Lee agree. "What'll we do on Saturday?" Patricia smiled slowly.

"Well, my father was telling me about this prank he and his friends pulled…" The other New Marauders grinned.

"Wait a minute." Kenneth Towler held up his hand. "Your _father_?" The other second years looked at each other. Lee took a scrap of parchment, wrote "IOU two Sickles", and handed the parchment to the Weasley twins.

Patricia rolled her eyes. "I don't think that counts as losing your bet, Lee." Lee looked at her.

"Doesn't it?"

"No," Grace and Violet chimed. Lee hurried to yank the parchment back.

"Are you going to tell us what you're talking about?" Kenneth asked.

"Nope."

"So, this prank you were going to tell us about?" George prompted. Patricia smiled, and then frowned. She looked down at her watch.

"Don't you have practice now?" Fred and George had both made it onto the Gryffindor Quidditch team as beaters. Their brother, Charlie, was the captain, and he worked them hard every evening the entire team was free.

Which happened to be right then.

"What!" Fred grabbed her arm and looked at her watch, even though he was wearing one. "Bloody hell!"

"Language!" Kenneth berated. Fred paused to hit him over the head before he and George ran out of the library, with Madam Pince shaking her fist after them.

While their table was settling back down, Patricia went into her bag and took out her tarot cards. The cardstock box they had originally come in had disintegrated at the seams over the summer. She took the cards out of the aluminum tin they now resided in, shuffled them, and laid three face up on the table, thinking, "Will we get Geoff to leave Hogwarts?"

Up came the nine of swords, the Hanged Man, and the Magician. Patricia smiled. _That_ was a good sign.

Noe shivered at both in sympathy for the terrified man on the nine of swords card and in fear at the uncommon look on her friend's face. She looked _evil_. "What're you smiling about?"

"Geoff will be gone by the end of the year. We just have to save our best for last."

"And what is our best?" Penelope asked. Patricia grinned.

"I have an idea…"

* * *

 _May 29_ _th_ _,1991 (Night of the full moon) - Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland_

Professor Eobard Geoff was nearing the end of his rope. Since November he'd become the butt of so many jokes that he'd lost count, _and no one was paying for it_. There had been whispers of the Weasley twins, but every time he tried to catch them he ended up in the middle of more slapstick than if he'd left well enough alone. He had done _nothing_ to deserve this treatment!

Geoff grumbled as he made his way to his rooms at the end of another long day. He shoes squished with every step. He'd stepped out of his classroom into the middle of a puddle of Swelling Solution that turned the soles of his shoes the size of small boats. He planned to douse them with Deflating Draught, have a stiff drink, and then go to bed and dream about what he'd do when he finally caught the little demons responsible.

The only problem was that he tripped every other step. Concentrating on walking without falling flat on his face meant that he didn't notice the three, colourless spells hitting him in the back just before he reached the painting that led to his sitting room. "Giant Nevermore."

"Have a good evening, sir," the painted squire said as his frame swung aside. Geoff just scowled.

After pouring himself a drink and whipping up some Deflating Draught for his shoes, because he thought the only way to get something done right was to do it himself, Geoff sat barefoot in front of the fireplace and stared listlessly into the low flames. He should have been marking essays for one of his classes, he couldn't be bothered to remember which one, but instead he sat in front of the fire until he fell asleep.

He dreamed.

He was in Romania, in a village that had been swarmed by vampires. He and his team were making their way through, killing any that were left and looking for any survivors. He came to a scratched up house with a closed door, a good sign that there were living humans still inside, and looked back at his partner before knocking.

During the real mission the door had been opened by a frightened Muggle mother with five children and their grandmother sharing the house with her. They had been the only survivors out of the small village of two hundred Muggles and fifty wizards. The wizards had all gone to fight the vampires or been turned to dust when the massive concentration of vampire auras killed the Floo system. The Muggles had opened their doors to the creatures and their screams had drawn the wizards to their deaths. The children and two women had only survived because the grandmother had scattered garlic throughout the house and lain branches of wild rose and hawthorn at every window.

In the dream Geoff was pulled into the house by a pale hand and the door slammed shut behind him, locking out his partner. Standing in front of him were not the woman and her children but a group of Hogwarts age girls with pale skin and sharp fangs. The head girl wore the face of a fourth year Ravenclaw girl named Audrey Blackthorn.

Geoff gulped. Audrey smiled. "How lovely of you to join us, isn't it girls?"

"Very lovely," another one of the vampire girls agreed. "I was getting hungry."

"Is there enough for all of us?" a vampire at the back of the room asked.

Normally Geoff would have said something like "There's always enough Eobard Geoff to go around" before letting loose with fire spells. But all on his own, in a house full of vampire girls, Geoff did something he wasn't proud of, and would never be mentioning to anyone.

He screamed for help.

Audrey's smile grew. The vampires moved to surround Geoff on all sides.

"Dinner time."

* * *

 _May 30_ _th_ _, 1991- The Great Hall, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland_

"Does Professor Geoff look tired to you?" Penelope asked her roommates at breakfast.

"Exhausted." Audrey smiled for the first time in weeks. "I think a formal letter of thanks to the Black family is in order." The spell that they had used, the Nightmare Curse, had come from a book in the Black library that had been uncovered by Patricia Stimpson-Black during the Easter holidays. The recently-revealed-to-be-adopted girl had shared the incantation with the fourth year Ravenclaw girls, and then all they had to do was pick three of them to cast it and wait for a full moon.

Jasmine sipped her tea. Their fourth and final roommate, the Muggleborn Emily, looked up from her copy of _The Quibbler_. "Are you feeling alright? The three of you were out like lights before we got you halfway up the stairs."

"I'm fine."

"Couldn't be better."

Casting the Curse had taken a lot out of them, which was why it had been them casting it and not the second year girls. There were easier ways to scare Geoff away, but they were all illegal.

"Should we let the boys place bets?" The "for when he'll be gone" was left unsaid.

Penelope looked at Audrey disapprovingly. "They're thirteen."

"So? They bet about when everyone would find out about Lord Black adopting Patricia." Lee ended up winning that bet. He said it would keep until Christmas.

"I don't approve."

Emily rolled her eyes. "Of _curse_ you don't." Penelope blushed. "There are only four weeks left. We really should be worrying about exams." The Defense exam was going to be awful. Along with being a horrible excuse for a human being, Geoff was a terrible teacher. Ranting wasn't teaching.


	20. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

 _June 30_ _th_ _, 1991 (Two days after the full moon)-Travelling on the Hogwarts Express_

Benvolio hooted and looked between Grace and Patricia. The two humans were squabbling over a letter and he just didn't understand why. They both wanted him to take it.

"You've put it off for long enough!" Grace exclaimed eventually. "Why'd you write the letter if you weren't going to send it?" Patricia's response to this was to open and close her mouth several times while trying to think of an answer. Grace took advantage of this lull to grab the letter out of her hand and tie it to Benvolio's talon. The grateful bird gripped the parchment and took one last look at his beloved mistress before flying out of the open compartment window, starting his first leg of the long flight to Greece.

Patricia was torn between screaming, crying, and slapping her friend, or thanking her. She chose not to do either by leaving the compartment and going to sit with the boys.

Fred, George, Lee, and Kenneth Towler were in the middle of a game of Exploding Snap. They were playing with Kenneth's cards, which contained a hand drawn caricature of Snape on the back of each one, so they were calling the game Exploding Snape. Patricia plopped down on the seat beside George.

"Deal me in?" Kenneth did so just as the entire deck decided to explode. They and the compartment got covered in a layer of ash. Kenneth coughed and Lee leaned over to pick up the cards, which had reformed in the 'centre' pile on the seat between them.

"What're you doing here?" Fred asked Patricia while Lee dealt out the cards.

"Weren't you sitting with your roommates?" George asked.

"We had a disagreement," Patricia said tersely.

They began playing. Fred and George took a few cracks at Geoff, the man had quit his job during the last week of school and gotten out of castle as fast as he could after the pranks and the nightmares had gotten to be too much. Coincidently the curse broke right after that, thanks to the full moon.

Patricia was three points ahead when they were interrupted by the arrival of the Slytherin second years. Warrington sneered at them. He had lost weight since first year, all those Hogwarts stairs probably meant he'd walked more in the last two years that he ever had in his life, so it was possible to see Pucey, Niven, and Battaglia standing slightly behind him. The other three boys looked less pleased to be there than Warrington, and Pucey, at Warrington's back as he was, actually had a look of embarrassment on his face.

"What do you want, Warrington?" Patricia asked without looking up from their game. The boys followed her lead and ignored the Slytherins, though Fred and George were ready to draw their wands if it was needed.

"Aren't I allowed to speak to my betrothed?" Warrington said. Patricia looked up with surprise and saw the nasty grin on his face. "My father sent a contract to your _adopted_ father. It's sure to be signed by the time we reach London. He'll be glad to be rid of you, I'll bet. A _murderer_ doesn't like people, after all."

Patricia saw red. Without warning she dropped her cards, which exploded on Warrington's feet, and flicked her wand out of its holster. She pointed it in his face. "Listen carefully because I'm only going to say this once. My father would _never_ betroth me to someone, especially without my input, and _I_ can do so much better than the likes of you. And he would never try to get rid of me. _And he's not a murderer!_ "

Fred and George grabbed Patricia's arms. "Run while you can." Pucey listened to the twins and pushed Warrington down the hall.

The twins gave Patricia a minute to cool off before they released her. Then the boys looked on awkwardly as Patricia collapsed into her seat and began crying. Eventually Fred and George, the only ones among them who had the experience of having a little sister, hugged her and let her cry into their shirts.

"There's something very wrong with me."

* * *

 _July 2_ _nd_ _, 1991-_ _Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, London, England_

"You're a Black now. There's always been something very wrong with our family since cousins started marrying each other." That's what Sirius had said when Patricia brought her concerns to him. It was true, but didn't quite seem to fit what Patricia was experiencing. She felt like she had hundreds of different people inside her, all feeling different things at the same time.

In other words, she'd been having massive mood swings since November but it hadn't gotten bad until now.

Since Sirius's answer wasn't satisfactory, Patricia did what any Ravenclaw worth their salt would do. She went to the library, the Black family library to be specific. If she didn't find anything there she planned to get Remus to take her to Diagon Alley so she could raid the books in her vault for information.

Sirius had also said that in his option she was too young to be betrothed to anyone, and Warrington's father had been way out of line anyway. It was supposed to be the girl's family offering the contract, not the boy's. But the Warringtons were "desperate to better themselves" so getting ahead of himself was to be expected from the elder Warrington.

Kreacher popped into the library just as Patricia was getting started on the next shelf of books she was allowed access to. "Master is telling mistress to be coming down for dinner."

Patricia put a bookmark into the books she was reading. "Thank you, Kreacher." The elf gave a nod and Disapperated with a crack.

Patricia made her way to the kitchen to find Sirius and Remus yelling loudly while Bathsheda and Ms. Greene shook their heads and smiled. "What's happened?" Patricia shouted over the celebrating wizards. Bathsheda shouted back.

"Sirius has had another of his ideas, and Harry Potter's coming to Hogwarts!"

* * *

A/n: I know it's short, but this felt like the right place to stop.

-Cynder2013


	21. Chapter 20: The Philosopher's Stone

Chapter 20

 _August 1_ _st_ _, 1991- The Leaky Cauldron, London, England_

Patricia was practically vibrating as she tried not to bounce up and down in her seat. The good mood of her uncle and father had rubbed off on her, despite the fact that they still didn't know where Harry was. Just knowing that he was alive was enough to keep them ecstatic for weeks.

Sirius's Idea helped to.

The first Muggle-born and their family arrived at exactly nine fifty-five, five minutes early. Hermione Jean Granger was more excited than Patricia. Her parents, Jean and Charles, were looking around the pub with wide eyes. Professor Sinistra, who was the Hogwarts representative, went over to them and ushered them to their table.

"Are you Lord Black?" Hermione asked excitedly. Then, not giving him a chance to answer, she babbled, "It's very nice of you to do this. My mum and dad weren't sure about sending me so far away. The school's somewhere in Scotland, right? That's what Professor McGonagall told us. But having people there that I already know makes things so much better. Are we going to get our books today?"

She said all that in one breath. Merlin's beard, the girl could talk.

Then again, so could Sirius.

"None of this 'Lord Black' stuff. Call me Sirius, or Mr. Black if you must. Hogwarts is _somewhere_ in Scotland. No one knows its exact location because it's Unplottable and stuff like that. You will be getting your books today and everything else on your list. Have a seat while we wait for the others. This is my daughter Patricia. She's going to be heading into her third year in September."

Sirius saying this caused Hermione to bombard Patricia with questions, a hail that lasted through three more arrivals before someone who Patricia knew well entered the pub with his daughter behind him.

"Mr. Turpin!"

Charles Turpin looked towards where he thought he heard his name being called. His eyes widened when he saw the familiar head of red hair.

"Patricia? You're a witch?"

Patricia smiled. "Yes, sir. Hello, Lisa."

Lisa Turpin gave a tentative wave from behind her father's Hagrid-like bulk.

"Do you want something to drink? There's pumpkin juice, tea, and my personal favourite, gillywater. No Firewhisky though. We're not that mad. By 'we' I mean the Black family."

"I'll try some gillywater, please," Lisa said as she sat down in the seat to the other side of Patricia. Hermione smiled at her, showing charmingly overlarge teeth.

"Hello, I'm Hermione Granger."

"Lisa Turpin."

Lisa's drink came hovering over to her from across the table. Her eyes grew wide as it landed in front of her.

"Everyone's here," Professor Sinistra said to Sirius after a blond boy had arrived with his mother. Sirius stood.

"Ladies and gentlemen, oh, and parents," A few of the new firsties-to-be giggled. "Welcome to your behind the scenes tour of the wizarding world, a never before offered experience brought to you by the Lilly and James Potter Muggleborn Education Fund."

"In English, Papa," Patricia said when most of the parents look at Sirius with confusion.

"We're going to help you find your way around, answer any questions you have, and help your kids get all their school supplies."

Jean Granger raised her hand. "Will we have time to go to the bank? I understand that wizards use a different currency than…Muggles and we haven't had a chance to change our money."

"We will be stopping at the bank, but there's no need for you change currencies. Today the Fund will be paying for anything you need." And by the Fund he meant himself, as it was he who had set up the Lilly and James Potter Muggleborn Education Fund, and filled it with Black family gold. He said that he hoped his mother was rolling over in her grave.

"Mr. Black," Professor Sinistra hissed. Sirius quickly amended his statement.

"Unless someone decides they need a racing broom. They're not allowed until second year."

Professor Sinistra rolled her eyes and, with military efficiently, began escorting the Muggleborns and their families to the entrance to Diagon Alley.

Patricia was last to get up from the table. As she moved to follow the rest of the group a white owl flew in from the direction of the stairs to the first floor. Benvolio must have flown through an open window in one of the rooms, and with as much effort he had gone through to get there Patricia was disappointed when she saw that he wasn't carrying a letter.

"No reply, Ben?"

The owl hooted and shook his head before helping himself to what was left of her glass of gillywater. Patricia let him, though she was going to finish it. Greece was a long way, after all. When he was done drinking, Benvolio hooted to her again.

"It's alright, boy. It's not like I really expected to get anything. Do you want to head into Diagon with us?"

Benvolio answered by hopping onto her shoulder and pushing a lock of her hair behind her ear.

"Alright then. Hopefully we won't get left behind."

* * *

 _September 1_ _st_ _, 1991-Platform 9 ¾, King's Cross Station, London, England_

"You need some help with that?"

The black-haired boy from the Muggle side of King's Cross looked down at George from inside the train car, his thin arms trembling against the weight of his trunk and his glasses threatening to slide down his nose. "If it's not too much trouble…"

"Not at all. Oy, Fred! Give us a hand!"

Fred hurried over from where he had been talking to Lee and grabbed one side of the end of the trunk that was hanging out of the train. George took hold of the other side and together they helped the boy hoist his trunk onto the train and into the nearest empty compartment. Fred wiped his forehead with his sleeve.

"Blimey, that's heavy. Didn't you get lightening charms put on it?"

"Err…No?"

"No wonder. Tell you what, we'll send one of our Ravenclaw friends around to do them for you. It'll make the trip back a lot easier. I'm Fred, by the way. Fred Weasley."

"And I'm George."

"I'm Harry. Thanks for your help."

Harry copied Fred and wiped his forehead with his sleeve. His thick fringe moved, leaving visible the lighting scar that stood out against his pale skin. George let out a yell and Harry jumped.

"Are you him?"

"Am I who?"

"Harry Potter!"

"Oh, yeah I'm him. I mean, that's me."

"Wicked!" Fred and George said together. The Fred looked at George.

"Is Patty-?"

"Middle of the train."

"And Sirius?"

"Talking to Mum."

"Be right back!" Fred ran down the train, leaving behind a grinning George and Harry looking like the deer in the headlights.

Thirty seconds later, and yes, _someone_ counted, Fred was back. He'd brought another redhead with him, and Harry briefly wondered just how many Weasleys there were.

"Harry Potter, meet Patricia Adhara Stimpson-Black."

"We usually just call her Patricia. It saves time. Patty if we feel like getting our arses kicked."

Patricia gave George a light slap in the black of his head.

"She's your godsister. That's what it's called, right?"

"Yes, that's what it's called," Patricia assured Fred. "Nice to meet you, Harry."

Harry looked like he'd just been hit with a Beater's bat. "I…I have godparents?"

"Yeah, my adopted father, Siruis Black, is your godfather. I don't know who your godmother is though."

"Could…could I meet him?"

"Of course! He's on the platform right now—" Patricia was interrupted by the train's whistle. "Bother! We're leaving soon. Could you stay here while we say goodbye? Papa will want to sit down with you for hours and we really don't have the time for that."

Harry nodded and the three redheads darted out of the compartment with Patricia calling after the twins, "Don't tell your mum about Harry!"

While he waited for the train to start moving, Harry stared out of the compartment window at the mass of families on the platform. Not even at Hogwarts yet and he'd had his mind completely blown. He'd found out about family that he hadn't even known he had, wizard family!

He was shaken out of his thoughts by the jerking of the train. Then _another_ redheaded boy looked around the door of his compartment.

"Could I sit here? Everywhere else is full."

"Yeah, sure." The boy sat down opposite him. "You're Ronald, right?" Harry asked, recalling the name from when he had approached Mrs. Weasley for help.

"Yeah, but everyone calls me Ron. Who're you?"

"I'm Harry." Ron's eyes widened.

"Like Harry Potter."

"Exactly like that. I'm Harry Potter."

" _The_ Harry Potter! Blimey! Do you really have the, you know?" Ron pointed to his own forehead. Harry lifted his fringe to clearly show his scar. "Wicked!"

Harry laughed. "Yeah, your brothers said the same thing."

Ron's ears turned red. "Which ones?"

"Fred and George. How many are there in your family?"

"Err, well Bill and Charlie have already left Hogwarts, they're the oldest. And Ginny's the youngest, she hasn't started yet. Then there's me, Fred and George, and Percy. Oh, and Fred and George's friends, Lee and Patricia. They come round often enough that mum treats them like they're ours. What about you? Where have you been?"

"Uh, living with my aunt and uncle."

"Really? I didn't know James Potter, your dad, had siblings."

"I don't know if he does. My aunt is my mum's sister."

Ron's eyes widened even more. "You're living with Muggles!"

"Yeah."

"You're Harry Potter and you're living with Muggles."

"Yeah."

"You're Harry Potter and you're living with Muggles."

"Shame on you, Harry, you broke Ron."

Both boys turned their heads to see Patricia standing in the door of their compartment.

"So, what am I interrupting?"


	22. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

 _September 1_ _st_ _, 1991-The Great Hall, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland_

Harry was less nervous than the people around him as he waited for his turn to be Sorted. He was too busy thinking about everything that Patricia had told him. Granted she had admitted herself that she didn't know much about his parents, but it was more than he had known before. He hadn't even known that his mother had red hair! What if he had gotten red hair? Maybe it would have behaved better than his hair did.

Hermione Granger, who had showed up at their compartment with Neville Longbottom about halfway through the trip looking for Neville's toad, was the first of the people Harry had met to be called up. She sat on the stool with the Sorting Hat over her eyes for almost a minute before the Hat yelled out, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Harry looked over at the Ravenclaw table. Patricia had been certain that Hermione would be in Ravenclaw. She looked shocked, but seemed to be clapping as loudly as she could.

Neville Longbottom was the next person Harry knew to be Sorted. He was on the stool for only a few seconds before the hat yelled, "GRYFFINDOR!" again. He stood up and appeared to be ready to run to the Gryffindor table with the Hat still on his head when the entire hall was filled with a hissing noise, like a snake. Hundreds of raspy voices spoke, ringing throughout the hall even though they sounded like they hadn't been used in years.

 _"Bane of the Heir, prepare!"_

Then yells came from the Ravenclaw table as Patricia fell sideways out of her seat and hit her head on the floor.

* * *

 _September 2_ _nd_ _, 1991-The Hospital Wing, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland_

"Patricia Adhara Stimpson-Black, I swear if you do not wake up before Potions—"

Patricia pried her eyes open and muttered, "I'm awake, Grace. Don't yell."

She blinked and looked around. She was in the hospital wing. Great. Usually Fred and George were the first to have to be tended to by Madam Pomfrey, be it from Quidditch practice, fighting with Slytherins, or an experiment gone wrong. They would never let her live this down.

"What happened?"

Grace, Noe, and Violet looked at each other over Patricia's head.

"Professor Babbling said that it was a prophecy," Violet told her.

"That what was a prophecy?"

"What you said during the Sorting."

"What did I say?"

"'Bane of the Heir, prepare,'" Grace quoted.

"I don't remember that," Patricia said, scrunching her face. "Hang on, did you say during the Sorting? Did I miss Lisa and Harry getting Sorted?"

Her roommates nodded and Patricia groaned.

"Lisa's in Ravenclaw and Harry's in Gryffindor," Noe said helpfully.

"Professor Babbling said you probably wouldn't remember," Grace said. "She told us to tell you to go to her office as soon as Madam Pomfrey lets you out."

"So around Hallowe'en then?"

They all laughed. Grace rubbed her eyes and checked her watch. She frowned.

"We've got potions now. We're with Gryffindor this year, somehow."

"Maybe Professor Snape got tired of his classroom getting blown up," Patricia suggested.

"Who knows?"

Grace stood and Violet and Noe followed her lead. "We'll be back if you're not out by lunch," Grace promised.

Patricia nodded. "Tell the boys I say hi."

The minute her friends were gone, Madam Pomfrey swooped down on Patricia with a handful of potion bottles and sharp reprimands for landing in the Hospital Wing before the semester even started.

"I'll send for a House Elf to bring you breakfast," she said at last, "and then you must go to sleep. You need rest."

"Yes, Madam Pomfrey," Patricia said, knowing that there was no point arguing with the mediwitch.

"Blinky is bringing missy Patty her breakfast," Blinky the house-elf announced as she Apparated into the room. "The house-elves is wanting missy Patty to feel better soon."

Patricia smiled. "Thank you, Blinky. Does that have anything to do with keeping Fred and George under control?"

Blinky grinned. "Only a little, missy Patty. The Misters Weasley is already planning something big."

"Oh dear. Thank you for the warning, Blinky."

"Blinky is welcome. Blinky must be going back to the kitchens now. Nod will be coming to pick up missy Patty's dishes."

"See you later, Blinky."

The house-elf Disapparated and Patricia slowly ate the porridge she had brought. Then she put the bowl aside and almost immediately fell asleep.

* * *

A/n: I apologize for how short this is compared to normal, but A) I was feeling bad about not posting for so long and B) I'm having awful writer's block.

-Cynder2013


	23. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

 _September 3_ _rd_ _, 1991-Office of the Professor of Ancient Runes (Bathsheda Babbling), Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland_

Madam Pomfrey didn't let Patricia out until just before supper. She was insistent, so Patricia ended up missing the entire first day of school and definitely couldn't make it to Bathsheda's office before curfew. Just getting all the day's notes from Noe, who took the best notes out of all of them, took an hour and a half. By happy coincidence, the third year Claws had a free period in the morning at the same time as Professor Babbling, so Patricia went to see her right after breakfast the next day.

"My mother was a _what_?"

Bathsheda pushed Patricia's untouched cup of tea towards her and the girl took a shaky sip.

"An Oracle. Pythia to be exact. The Oracle of Delphi."

Patricia managed to get past the point of silent blinking and sputtered, "I thought that was just her name."

She was being very unRavenclaw-like at the moment. Actually, she wouldn't have fit into _any_ of the Houses that very second. Fortunately her bumbling soon passed and she decided on indulging in a stereotypical redhead fit of rage.

I don't know if Patricia being a redhead made that better or worse.

"And this is a stupid family curse! Is that why her family didn't write back to me? They knew this was going to happen! Why didn't I know about this?"

Bathsheda weathered Patricia's explosion admirably without even a twitch to show that the increasingly high pitched yelling was getting to her.

After she was finished, Patricia slumped in her chair and repeated tiredly, "Why didn't I know about this?"

"It's been passed on through your family by word of mouth," Bathsheda said apologetically. "I only know because your mother told me so I could tell you."

Patricia put her head down on Bathsheda's desk and said something Bathsheda wasn't able to hear.

"What was that, Patricia?"

Patricia lifted her head.

"I wish she'd been her to tell me herself," she said shakily before she burst into tears. Her head dropped down to rest on her folded arms.

Bathsheda just barely stopped herself from crying as well. It wouldn't do them any good if they both became tear soaked messes. She reached over her desk and patted Patricia on her shoulder.

The giant school clock chimed. Patricia lifted her head again. Her eyes had already begun to go pink.

"Your class will be here soon."

Bathsheda wanted to say that her class could wait, they were seventh years, but Patricia stood up before she could get the words out. That was probably a good thing since she wouldn't be a very responsible teacher to say that.

"I…I have Transfiguration."

Bathsheda decided to be a less responsible teacher.

"No, you don't." She took a piece of scrap parchment out of a drawer and began writing on it. "I'll give you a note to excuse you from classes. I'd suggest visiting the corridor where Nick and the Baron have their duels. There's a hidden room across from the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy."

Despite her tears, Patricia looked interested.

"There is?"

Bathsheda nodded. "Your mother found it. Just walk in front of the wall a few times and think about what you need."

"Papa and Uncle Remus never told me about it."

Bathsheda gave a small smile.

"They never found it."

* * *

 _September 3_ _rd_ _, 1991-The Room of Requirement, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland_

The note from Bathsheda had even worked on Filch, though that may have had more to do with the fact that Patricia was still crying when she ran into him. Either way, Patricia got to the seventh floor with not trouble.

As she paced in front of the wall opposite the tapestry she thought, _I need a place to think about what happened. I need somewhere to feel better. I need a place that's friendly._

Strange requests? Maybe, but the room didn't disappoint.

When Patricia opened the door that appeared in the wall she found herself in a replica of the Ravenclaw common room that was carpeted in grass and opened up into a sparkling night sky with a sliver of moon. There was a teacup sitting on one of the tables. When Patricia went over to it there was a note attached to it that said "Calming Draught, Drink Me".

Slightly troubling _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland_ references aside, the liquid in the teacup was Calming Draught. Grace had needed to take it enough times during exams for Patricia to recognize it on sight. She drank the potion, gagging on the bitter taste, and then lay down on the carpet of grass and stared up at the stars.

"Why?" she asked the constellation of Pegasus.

The winged horse only twinkled in reply. She sighed.

"A curse. Who even has family curses anymore? It's the twentieth century!"

A bell rang behind her.

Patricia's wand shot out of its holster and she rolled over.

" _Petrificus Totalus!_ "

Adrian Pucey's arms and legs snapped to attention and he fell to the floor with a thud, frozen stiff as a board.

"Oh."

Patricia got up and rolled Pucey over no very gently with one foot. "What are you doing here?"

Pucey grunted and rolled his eyes. Patricia chose to translate that as "I would tell you if I could move," and cast Finite Incantatem on Pucey, allowing him to sit up and spit out all the grass that had gotten into his mouth.

"Avoiding Warrington," he said. "I thought this was a closet."

"Then this must be Narnia," Patricia muttered.

The Slytherin boy squinted up at her. "Have you been crying?"

Patricia snarled like a threatened wolf. "None of your business. Leave, now, before I really hex you."

Instead of doing what was probably the smart thing and listening to her, Pucey stood up and began walking around the room.

"What is this place?"

Patricia really wanted to say that it was Narnia again, but she didn't.

"Do you have hearing problems, or just listening issues?"

"I don't want to run into Warrington," Pucey supplied while he flipped through a book on Animagi. "I won't bother you anymore, promise."

"Fine. I'm holding you to that," Patricia grumbled.

Then, about ten minutes of reading and stargazing later, Patricia asked, "Your dad owns the Cleansweep Broom Company, right?"

Pucey looked up from his book with barely veiled surprise at Patricia cordial tone. "Yes, and?"

"Your broom is a repainted Silver Arrow. I've knocked you off of it more than enough times to notice."

Pucey blushed, whether from the reminder of the last year's embarrassing game against Ravenclaw or from the shame of being found out no one could be sure.

"My mum got it for me. She says Silver Arrows have got better runework."

"Cleansweeps don't have any runework."

Pucey's blush deepened. "I know."

"Well, Silver Arrow or not, we're going to beat you this year." Patricia shut her book and looked over at Pucey. "Want to play Exploding Snap?"


	24. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

 _September 5_ _th_ _, 1991-The Gryffindor Common Room, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland_

After soundly beating Pucey at three games of Exploding Snap, Patricia felt a lot more able to face the rest of the school. She got a few stares in Arithmancy, which stopped once they got down to the difficult class work, and then at lunch half the Hall was whispering about her and glancing over at the Ravenclaw table fervently.

The other half was talking about Harry Potter.

"Did you see him?"

"There, next to the new Weasley."

"I heard he lives with Muggles."

"I heard Sirius Black is his godfather."

"I heard that he's Gryffindor's heir!"

It was more than a little annoying.

After taking all of Wednesday to make absolutely sure that she was caught up on all her schoolwork, Patricia followed Fred, George and Lee to Gryffindor Tower after dinner on Thursday. The three boys surrounded Patricia as they approached the entrance which in addition to the stack of books Patricia was carrying hid her face from the portrait guarding the entrance.

"Password?" the Fat Lady asked.

"Caput draconis," Fred told her. "And may I say you are looking particularly lovely this evening?"

The Fat Lady giggled into her hand as her canvas swung aside to open the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. Lee helped Patricia through the portrait hole and they scrambled past the painting while the Fat Lady had her eyes closed.

"Thank you, Mister Weasley. Have a good night!"

"Same to you!" Fred called as the door swung shut.

Patricia placed the stack of books on the one table in the common room (did no Gryffindors study?). Fred, George and Lee immediately pounced on them.

No, they were not doing homework. They were doing research for their first big prank of the school year.

The other Gryffindors gave them a wide berth, as was right and proper and the only smart thing to do under the circumstances.

"I have one thing I have to do first," Patricia reminded the boys when they gave her weird looks after she didn't sit down with them right away.

She went over to the couch in front of the fire where Harry and Ron were sitting and sat down next to them. Harry and Ron were staring at her with the rest of the first years that were in the common room.

"Hello," she said cheerfully.

Ron blinked and blurted, "You're a Ravenclaw!"

"Yes."

"How'd you get into our common room?"

Patricia pointed towards the portrait hole.

"But—"

"It doesn't matter, Ron," Harry interrupted.

He looked at Patricia with a wide grin. "Sirius wrote to me this morning! He wants to come over for a weekend to meet me."

And bother Professor Sinistra more, no doubt.

Patricia joined Harry in grinning. "That's great. I wrote to him yesterday telling him that you're here, and that you're in Gryffindor. It'll probably take a few days for him to arrange to come here. Uncle Remus might be able to come too, depending."

The full moon was on the twenty-third, and with his "plans" Dumbledore would try to drag out getting Sirius to Hogwarts for as long as possible, trust me.

Patricia tilted her head. "How've classes been? Is Professor Snape giving you trouble?"

"We haven't had him yet," Harry said slowly, "but he was glaring at me through most of the feast."

"That's unfortunate," Patricia said. "Read ahead a bit before class tomorrow, Potions is tomorrow, right?"

Harry and Ron nodded. Patricia grimaced.

"Good luck. I'm sure you've already been told he hates Gryffindors."

"Yup," Harry and Ron said glumly.

"Cauldrons don't usually blow up during the first class," Patricia assured them. "Usually."

Fred and George had managed it while they were experimenting but Lee said Warrington threw something in their cauldron. They _were_ being unusually carful and methodical for first year Gryffindors. Snape would have given them detention for the rest of the year, but the fumes of the destroyed potion had caused a bout of amnesia in about half the people in the classroom and Snape was one of them.

Madam Pomfrey had not been happy.

"So, how much have you gotten lost so far?" Patricia asked.

Harry and Ron grimaced.

"Too much," Ron groaned. "I wish there was a map of this place."

Patricia tried not to smile.

"Filch caught us trying to get into the forbidden corridor," Harry added. "He wouldn't believe it was an accident."

Patricia blinked. "Forbidden corridor?"

She hadn't heard about that. It sounded like a warm up prank Fred and George might pull, but they could never in a million years get Filch working with them.

"Oh!" Harry exclaimed, realizing that Patricia hadn't heard the announcement. "The third-floor corridor on the right, it's blocked off. Headmaster Dumbledore told us after the Sorting."

"He said not to go into it unless we wanted to experience an extremely painful death or something like that," Ron added.

Patricia was aghast. Her esteem of their headmaster dropped several points.

"He does know that this is a school?!"

* * *

A/n: Short, I know. This felt like the right place to stop. Fingers crossed I'll be able to post a new chapter for at least one of my stories every week.

Have a good break, for everyone on vacation now.

-Cynder2013


	25. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

 _October 31_ _st_ _,1991- The Kitchens, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland_

Dumbledore did, in fact, know that Hogwarts was a school. The problem was that he seemed to think that was only in theory, as Fred and George's most recent hijinks illustrated.

Patricia had to put down her fork so she didn't accidentally stab one of them in the eye while she yelled at them.

"You went into the corridor that is forbidden _on pain of death!_ What were you thinking?"

"The door can be opened with _alohomora_ ," Fred complained. "If Dumbledore really wanted to keep people out he wouldn't have made it possible to get in with a first year spell."

"Don't you want to know what we found?" George cajoled.

Patricia growled at him. "Maybe," she said sullenly. "But I don't approve. And I still haven't decided if I should tell your mother or not."

Fred and George gasped dramatically and clasped their hands to their hearts. About half of the elves in the kitchen giggled behind their slim fingers. The other half shared wide grins.

"You wound us!"

Patricia rolled her eyes. "What did you find?"

"First of all, we were being careful," Fred insisted. "We didn't open the door all the way."

"We just opened it enough to look inside," George said, "while Lee was distracting Filch and his demon cat with conjured birds."

"And?" Patricia asked.

"It's a giant, three-headed dog!" Fred and George said in unison.

"Standing on a trap door," George added. "Looked like it was guarding it."

"There's something in the school that needs a monster to guard it," Patricia said flatly. "Fantastic."

She felt a strong urge to hit her head on the table, never mind the fact that she was sitting in front of a plate full of food. It was only the three of them and the elves in the kitchen though so she could possibly get away with it. Possibly.

Before she could decide if she wanted to give the twins fodder for jokes or not, a small elf named Dotty Apparited onto the replica High Table right next to Fred's pumpkin juice.

"There is being a _troll_ in the dungeons!" she shouted in her high voice.

The kitchen went completely silent. Fred and George exchanged terrified looks.

Then there was a loud _thunk_.

Everyone jumped as Patricia, having pushed her plate out of the way, hit her forehead on the table several more times.

"Is missy Patty being alright?" Blinky asked tentatively.

"No, missy Patty is not being alright," Patricia groaned. "Missy Patty is wondering why there are two dangerous creatures in a school full of children."

All of the elves bit their tongues to stop themselves from correcting her. There were in fact _three_ dangerous creatures in a school full of children.

They were wondering why this hadn't bothered them before. Maybe it was adding the second troll.

"Blinky and Pinky will be taking missy Patty and the Misters Weasley to their common rooms," Dotty ordered. "Dotty is being going to elf quarters to warn others!"

Dotty disappeared with a _pop_. Pinky, an elf with skin as pink as his name would have you think, similarly vanished with Fred and George in tow.

Patricia grumbled as Blinky took her hand and Apparited to the Ravenclaw common room. She still didn't like side-along Apparition.

Patricia sat in one of the few armchairs with a book that she wasn't really concentrating on and waited for the rest of the Ravenclaws to arrive. She knew the exact second when they did because Grace let out a high-pitched squeal and a split second later nearly knocked her out of the chair.

"Ow, ribs," Patricia complained.

"Why didn't you let us know you were alright?" Grace demanded, not loosening her hug in the least.

"House-elves have an aversion to being seen by large groups of people," Patricia reminded her.

"Told you," Violet said as she and Noe caught up with Grace.

Grace got a sly gleam in her eyes. She finally loosened her grip on Patricia to grab the front of Violet's robes and pull her onto the chair with them.

"Hey!" Violet exclaimed.

Grace laughed and Patricia and Violet soon joined her. Violet rolled off the chair and took Grace with her. Patricia sat up while they lay on the floor laughing.

"You are terrible," Noe giggled.

Penelope Clearwater looked over at the third year girls and, despite the situation, couldn't prevent the smile that came to her lips. "You four stop playing games and come finish your suppers!" she called.

"Coming, Penny!" Patricia said.

She looked down at Grace and Violet, who had become engaged in some sort of tickling contest. "Get up," she told them. "Before Davis decides to come see what's so funny."

Grace and Violet quickly sat up and fixed their robes.

"You are evil," Grace told Patricia. "Pure evil."

Patricia smirked, then grimaced when a headache began pulsing behind her eyes. "Come on," she said, trying to shake off what was becoming a regular occurrence, "or there won't be any pie left."

The four girls went to one of the round tables that had been piled with food from the feast by the house-elves and filled their plates. They spent the rest of the night talking quietly by the fire while they ate, and none of them suspected even for a moment that three first years had just faced a fully grown mountain troll and come out unscathed.

Those first years were Ronald Weasley, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger. They were going to get royally pranked the next day for causing Patricia and the other Weasleys so much distress.


	26. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

 _Sunday, November 3_ _rd_ _,1991 (Eleven days after the full moon)- The Great Hall, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland_

When the doors of the Great Hall swung open, Grace had to quickly slap a hand over Patricia's mouth to stop her from yelling.

"Slytherins," she hissed in her friend's ear.

Patricia nodded in understanding. Despite it being the earliest breakfast time, or maybe because of it, none of them had yet figured out which it was, the Slytherin table was completely filled. Grace removed her hand and they both went back to eating their breakfasts.

Sirius and Remus marched right up to the High Table, where Dumbledore and the Heads of House were sitting down to their breakfasts.

"Would someone like to explain how a fully grown mountain troll got into Hogwarts?" Remus demanded, looking straight at Dumbledore.

"And why my godson and his friends ended up fighting it when they're only in first year?" Sirius added, glaring at the headmaster.

Dumbledore swallowed tensely and Patricia almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

"Shall we go up to my office—?"

"No," Sirius interrupted. "Right here, right now."

Remus put a hand on his friend's arm. "Maybe we should move out of the Great Hall first."

Professor McGonagall threw her napkin down on her empty plate. "May I suggest we all go to the staff room?"

"Excellent suggestion, Minerva," Professor Flitwick agreed. " _All_ of us."

Professor Snape scowled but still put aside his half-eaten breakfast and limped after the rest of the Heads as they left the hall.

Violet looked at Patricia with wide eyes. "What was _that_?"

Patricia smirked. " _That_ was every adult in the room teaming up against Dumbledore."

"Why?" Violet asked.

She really wasn't awake yet. Violet Moon was not a morning witch.

"You do remember the mountain troll and the giant dog?" Grace said dryly.

Violet blushed.

Professor Babbling entered the hall looked surprised when she saw that the High Table was empty. She raised her eyebrows at the Ravenclaw table. Patricia shook her head with the words "totally innocent" practically written across her face.

Bathsheda Babbling definitely got where she was by believing that look whenever she saw it. It was like her roommate and the frog all over again.

She shook her head and went to have breakfast.

Patricia grabbed Harry once he'd come down and finished breakfast and dragged him to the staff room to wait for Sirius and Remus. The dragging part was only necessary because she didn't tell him who they were going to meet.

Sirius and Remus wouldn't tell them what had been talked about (read: what they had yelled at Dumbledore about) but Patricia could (correctly) guess that it had a lot to do with Harry. When they walked out of the staff room, Sirius was fuming and Remus was pushing him out the door so that he couldn't turn back and rip Dumbledore to shreds.

"Bloody politician," Sirius muttered darkly. "He hates it there! 'Safest place for him' my—"

"Good morning, Papa," Patricia interrupted.

Sirius looked up and his face immediately broke into a grin. "Morning, Pup! And this must be Harry!"

"Of course it's Harry!" Remus exclaimed. He smiled at the first year Gryffindor. "You look just like James, and I've heard you fly like him too."

"Better," Sirius said. "James was never the youngest Seeker in a century. You're lucky you're his son, he'd never stand for anyone else showing him up!"

Harry blushed and smiled modestly. "I like flying."

"Do you like your broom?" Sirius asked. "I made sure to get the best Seeker's broom on the market."

Harry's eyes widened with surprise. Sirius hadn't mentioned in any of the letters that they'd exchanged that he had bought his Nimbus Two-Thousand. He had assumed that Professor McGonagall had got it but he realized now that that didn't make sense. Why would a teacher spend so much money on a student that wasn't related to them?

"You bought my broom?"

"Well he wouldn't trust anyone else to," Remus said dryly.

"I have to start making up for the ten years of birthday and Christmas presents I missed!" Sirius insisted.

Seeing that the three of them didn't seem in any danger of turning the school into a swamp any time soon (which was a prank that she'd have to remember to mention to Fred and George), Patricia waved goodbye to Remus, who was the only one paying attention to his surroundings, and left. She'd head up to the Hospital Wing first to try to get something to take care of the monster headache she'd woken up with. Then she'd go back to Ravenclaw Tower; she and her roommates had an all-day Patronus practice session planned.

I'll tell you now that that wasn't going to go well.


	27. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

 _Sunday, November 3_ _rd_ _,1991-Ravenclaw Tower Common Room, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland_

Noe shrieked and nearly dropped her wand. Her yell made the fifth year girls sitting on the other side of the common room drop what they were doing and turn towards the third year girls with alarm. Noe did not scream like that.

Penelope's mouth dropped open. "Merlin's beard!"

"Holy Morgan's cow's staff!" Audrey Blackthorn babbled, unable to choose which exclamation to use.

Grace squealed and jumped up and down, hugging Violet rather than Noe so that Noe wouldn't really drop her wand. "You did it! You did it!"

Swimming though the air around Noe was a beautiful sliver fish with thin, flowing fins, her patronus, fully formed.

"That…that!"Jasmine stuttered. "That's a N.E.W.T. level spell!"

"That's _beyond_ N.E.W.T. level!" Penelope corrected, lowering her wand. "Congratulations, Noe."

Noe blushed. "Thanks."

Grace finally allowed Violet to breath and stopped acting like a rabbit, though she still had a huge grin on her face. "I want to try again! _Expecto patronum!_ "

Silvery mist ballooned from the end of Grace's wand, forming a shield that was twice as tall as her. Before her face could start to fall the shield folded itself up and, quite appropriately, took the shape of a fluffy rabbit.

Grace squealed again. "You try, Vi!"

The fifth year girls went back to studying. They didn't look when Grace squealed for the third time, signalling the condensing of the silver cloud that Violet created into a bright silver butterfly.

"How are they doing that?" Emily whispered.

"I think they've been practicing for years," Penelope whispered back. "If prefects could give points I would."

"Your turn, Patricia," Grace ordered. "Come on!"

Patricia stopped massaging her temples (curse that headache that just did not want to die!) and tried the spell again. The first two times she produced the usual silver smoke that they had all been able to create reliably since the year before. Maybe it was a bit thicker than usual but it didn't look much different. On her third try a giant snake burst from the end of her wand, making a four girls scream.

"We're fine! We're fine!" Patricia gasped when the fifth year girls jumped out of their seats and drew their wands. "Sorry!"

Penelope lowered her wand. "It's fine. Try to calm—Patricia? Are you alright?"

All of the blood had drained from Patricia's face. Her patronus vanished.

The common room was filled with the hissing of snakes.

"Uh oh," Grace said.

Patricia opened her mouth and spoke with the voices of hundreds of Oracles.

 _"For birth of death from Erebus's grave, the warrior star shall break the cage. Release the lock by bloodied script, and from furious jaws the killer slip."_

Noe and Violet managed to catch Patricia as she fainted before she could hit her head on a bookshelf.

"Well," Grace said, "that didn't sound good."

* * *

 _Letter from Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore to Nicolas Flamel; dated November 3_ _rd_ _,1991_

To my dear Nick,

The security that I and the professors you chose have put around your possession has been holding up well. There has been a slight problem with someone unlocking the door at all hours but we both know that if Hagrid is not allowed to visit his dear Fluffy the consequences will be unpleasant.

I wish to ask for your opinion on a, shall we say, disturbing prophecy that was brought to me this afternoon. As there is always the danger of this letter being intercepted, yesterday was Fawks's Burning Day, please let me know when it would be possible for us to meet.

Enough business, last time we talked you shared your argument for why the merfolk of your country are less warlike than our selkies and Merrows. While I do believe that your warmer weather may have something to do with it I would like to remind you that France has a significantly lower Faerie presence, especially of the Dark variety… _(The letter continues for a foot and a half of parchment)_

From your friend,

Albus

* * *

 _Tuesday, November 5_ _th_ _,1991-The Hospital Wing, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland_

Patricia opened her eyes and groaned. "Not again."

She was in the hospital wing. Again.

Madam Pomfrey bustled over with a tray full of potions and put them down on the bedside table.

"Are those all for me?" Patricia asked, dismayed.

Madam Pomfrey raised an eyebrow. "Do you see anyone else here?"

Patricia grumbled and fell back into her pillows. She did need all those potions though. She felt like she'd been run over by the Knight Bus.

Well, at least her headache was gone.

* * *

A/n: These chapters just keep getting shorter...

Happy 2017,

Cynder2013


	28. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

 _Saturday, November 23, 1991-Quiddich Pitch, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland_

The spectators were packed into the stands like sardines. Almost the entire school had shown up for the first Quiddich match of the season. Even Patricia had gotten out of the Hospital Wing in time to watch.

It was Gryffindor verses Slytherin after all.

"And they're off!" Lee shouted from the commentator's box as the fourteen red and green robed players shot into the air.

It was his first year doing the commentary. Patricia was at the game as much to cheer him on as she was to cheer for Fred, George and Harry.

The game was going well, Gryffindor was ahead by fifty points and Fred (or was that George? It was hard to tell during Quidditch matches) had made Pucey drop the Quaffle twice by sending a Bludger at his head.

Then Harry's broom went mad.

"That is not normal," Patricia said incredulously as they watched Harry being thrown around by his new Nimbus. "Is it trying to throw him off?"

"I think so," Grace said. "Must be cursed or jinxed or something."

Fred and George were attempting to grab Harry and pull him onto one of their own brooms, but Harry's broom kept dodging them with violent jerks. Soon they gave up and began flying just underneath him, obviously hoping to catch him if he fell.

On the other end of the pitch, Flint got hold of the Quaffle and scored thrice without anyone noticing before Wood grabbed a discarded beater's bat and shot both Bludgers towards him, also without anyone noticing.

Grace stopped looking at Harry, who was somehow still managing to hang on, and started scanning the crowd with her binoculars.

"If it's a jinx whoever's casting it won't be breaking eye contact," Violet told her, watching what was going on through her fingers.

Patricia and Noe screamed. Harry's broom had given a violent buck and almost thrown him off completely. He was hanging on with one hand. Fred and George circled as close as they could without the broom running away from them. Violet shrieked and covered her eyes completely.

"Look!" Grace exclaimed. "Right below us, Professor Quirrell—Oh!" She laughed. Laughed!

"What is it?" Patricia asked anxiously.

"Granger just knocked him face first into the next row," Grace giggled.

"Has the broom stopped trying to throw him off?" Violet asked.

It had. However a few moments later Harry dove down and landed on his hands and knees on the pitch. He put a hand over his mouth like all the bucking had made him sick, but then held the Snitch above his head triumphantly.

"GRYFFINDOR WINS!" Lee shouted.

Three quarters of the crowd burst into cheers.

"We should tell Professor Flitwick about Quirrell," Patricia said grimly. "And Professor Babbling, she'll believe us."

"What about Professor McGonagall?" Noe asked.

"She's got her hands full at the moment," Grace said.

Professor McGonagall was trying to handle Lee, who had flown unaided seven feet into the air via accidental magic upon announcing the Gryffindor win. Accidental magic, at his age. Honestly.

They caught up with Professor Babbling first. Once she was able to decode their frantic whispering she was barely able to stop herself from groaning.

"It's always the Defence professor," she lamented. "I'll bring this to the Headmaster right away, girls. As I assume the Gryffindors will be having a party with a great deal of chaos and noise, I'd suggest gatecrashing to keep an eye on Potter."

"Yes, Professor Babbling," Patricia said.

They headed up to Gryffindor Tower, where the Fat Lady spent a whole minute staring at them after Patricia gave the password.

"You are not Gryffindors," she said decidedly.

"We're Ravenclaws," Grace said impatiently. "Professor Babbling told us to come here."

"Don't you have your own tower?"

Patricia crossed her arms. "We have the password, and students are allowed to visit other common rooms as long as they're back with their House by curfew, it's in the school rules."

It wasn't.

"No one follows the rules," the Fat Lady pointed out, quite correctly. "Run along, girls."

Patricia pursed her lips and turned on her heel. "Fine. We've got a project to work on anyway."

"We do?" Violet whispered.

"Yes, we do," Patricia said. "We need a way to send messages instantly."

"Mirrors," Grace suggested immediately. "Reflective surfaces have been used for communication since Merlin."

"If we're including the twins we'll need something less breakable," Violet said.

"We've got some books in the common room that should help," Noe said.

"Right," Patricia said, "common room then. Let's go, we've only got seven hours to figure this out."

"What happens in seven hours?" Grace wanted to know.

"I get frustrated and break into the Gryffindor common room," Patricia replied.

Well, they couldn't let that happen.

* * *

 _Saturday, November 23, 1991-The Headmaster's office, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland_

Dumbledore folded his hands on top of his desk. "Would that be all, Bathsheda?"

Bathsheda Babbling's face reddened. "'All'?" she repeated through gritted teeth. "Quirrell just tried to kill a student! This is worse than the one that brought a dragon to class!"

Beneath her fingers, Dumbledore's desk began to char. Dumbledore watched the smoke rising with a look of amusement.

"You're becoming more and more like your mother aren't you, Bathsheda?"

Bathsheda whipped her hands off the desk. "Do something about Quirrell, headmaster, or we'll find ourselves in need of a new Defense professor."

She turned and stormed out of the office, hopefully not to go find Quirrell and throw a fireball at his head.

Dumbledore sat back in his desk and sighed. "The Defense teachers get worse every year, don't they Fawks? It is a pity 'Professor Darrow' wasn't able to come back, but more than a year was too much of a risk."

Fawks gave a trill of agreement from his perch.

Dumbledore sighed again. Then he waved his wand to summon several of his many books and settled in for a long night of reading. There had been something wrong with Quirrell since he got back from his sabbatical; it was long past time to figure out what.

* * *

 _Saturday, November 23, 1991-Gryffindor third year boys' dormitory, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland_

Fred was woken up from his post-party dozing by the sound of an owl knocking on the window. He got up, still half asleep, and pushed the window open to let the owl in. When he saw the white bird he was immediately wide awake.

"Whazzit?" Lee asked, yawning.

"It's from Patricia," Fred said.

Benvolio hooted as Lee and George jumped up at once to crowd around him. He held out his foot so that Fred could untie the letter he carried.

"What does it say?" George asked.

"I'm getting there." Fred opened the letter and came out with a standard sheet of parchment that was completely blank except for the seemingly decorative border that had been inked in. "What?"

Benvolio hooted again and flew back out the window.

"Hey," George yelled after the owl, "don't we get a hint or something?"

As Kenneth Towler had fallen asleep in the common room (and then had a curly mustache grown on his face and his eyebrows turned purple, not that he needed to know that), Fred didn't hesitate to take out his wand and touch the tip of it to the parchment. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

Nothing happened.

"Let me try," George said, taking the parchment from his twin. "Mischief managed?"

Still nothing.

"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure?" Lee suggested. "She is a Ravenclaw."

Before they could try it, writing began running across the top of the parchment.

 _"Saturday, November 23, 1991_

 _Testing, please respond. -Patricia_

 _Just write on the parchment. -Grace"_

Fred, George and Lee looked at each other.

A violent scramble to be the first to grab a quill and ink ensued.

"Ha!" George said, having emerged victorious.

He scribbled quickly on the parchment: _"What in the name of Merlin's favourite boxers did you do?"_

 _"Who is this?-Patricia"_

Fred gave George a lighthearted slap on the back of his head. "You have to sign your name, idiot."

"I knew that," George said.

 _"This is George.-George_

 _You're sure it isn't Fred?-Patricia_

 _Pretty sure.-Gred_

 _That'll do.-Patricia"_

Fred pushed George to the side.

 _"So, what did you do?-Fred_

 _It was Patricia's idea.-Violet_

 _It always is.-George"_

"Don't I get a turn?" Lee complained.

"I don't know," Fred said.

"You might fly away with it," George added.

"Very funny," Lee said, reaching around Fred with his own quill.

 _"Runes, I assume?-Lee_

 _Elvish.-Patricia_

 _What?-Lee_

 _Long story.-Patricia_

 _Best not to ask.-Grace_

 _It's basically runes and a charm we found. We had to experiment a little.-Noe_

 _The Fat Lady wouldn't let us into your common room.-Patricia_

 _Why did you want to get into the common room?-Fred_

 _Quirrell tried to kill Harry during the Quidditch match. Professor Babbling told us to keep an eye on him.-Patricia"_

"What!?" Fred, George and Lee exclaimed. George wrote as fast as he could.

 _"What did he do?-George_

 _Jinxed Harry's broom. Granger took care of him but_ (Patricia wrote this but was interrupted by Grace.)

 _but he's the Defense professor.-Grace_

 _We'll look out for Harry.-George_

 _I guess we're getting rid of Quirrell too?-Lee_

 _Professor Babbling sent an owl to tell us that Professor Dumbledore's taking care of him.-Violet_

 _But he's the Defense professor.-Grace_

 _Just because Geoff_ (This was written by Violet, but Patricia took their parchment away from her before she could finish.)

 _We'll talk properly tomorrow. You know how to hide these messages.-Patricia_

 _Yes. Goodnight.-Lee"_

The boys put their quills down.

George picked up his wand. "Mischief managed," he tried.

The words on the parchment ran up into the border and disappeared.

"This is wicked," Lee said. "Way faster than owls."

"Not as cool as the map," Fred said, "but still cool."

"Who's going to hang onto it?" George asked.

They looked at each other. Then Lee took the parchment and hid it in his trunk under the bag of crickets that were for his tarantula.

"You two are likely to blow it up," he said.

Fred and George shrugged. "Guilty."


	29. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

 _Monday, November 25, 1991-The Great Hall, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland_

"Ah, Quirinus," Dumbledore said just before the stuttering professor left breakfast, "would you please come to my office after your classes are over?"

"W-w-what time, Headmaster?" Quirrell asked.

Dumbledore raised his eyebrows. "I believe you're finished at four o'clock?"

"Y-y-yes, Headmaster. I-I-I'll see you then."

Quirrell walked out of the Great Hall as fast as he could without arousing suspicion. He ducked into the nearest empty classroom and closed the door behind him just before he was brought to his knees with pain.

 _"You fool!"_ his Master hissed. _"He suspects you."_

The pain let up so that Quirrell could reply, "I'm sorry, Master."

 _"Tonight,_ " his Master told him. _"It must be tonight."_

"Please…" Quirrell foolishly whispered.

He sobbed as his Master punished his weakness.

 _"Tonight!"_

* * *

 _Monday, November 25, 1991-The Library, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland_

Patricia rubbed her forehead as she stared at the Ancient Runes essay she should have been more than halfway done writing since it was due on Friday. Their textbook had a list of reasons why Runes and Blood Magic should never, ever be mixed, ever, but no matter how many times she read over it the words just went flying over her head. Maybe that was a side effect of the prophecy she'd apparently given in the middle of Charms (whose contents no one had bothered to tell her) or maybe worrying about Harry was more difficult than she'd thought it would be.

The prophecy was predicting that a wizard in Australia would soon write a chart-topping song called _Basilisks_ that would show itself to be a weakness of the titular magical creature, in case you were wondering.

"Patricia!"

Patricia looked up from her work and turned her head so fast that Grace, who was sitting beside her, wasn't able to avoid being hit in the face by her hair. "Harry! What's wrong?"

"Ow," Grace said flatly, not looking up from her Potions textbook.

"Shhhh!" Madam Pince said from the circulation desk.

Harry blinked, owl-like behind his glasses. "Why would something be wrong?" he asked as Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley caught up to him.

"You were nearly killed on Saturday," Grace reminded him, still not looking up from her Potions textbook.

Harry blinked again. "That's not what—Do you know anything about Nicholas Flamel?"

 _That_ question was enough to make Grace momentarily forget that they had Potions in an hour. She looked at the three first-year Gryffindors with complete and utter surprise.

"You don't know about Nicholas Flamel?" she asked, shocked. "How do you not know about Nicholas Flamel? He's only the most famous alchemist ever!"

"Shhhh!" Madam Pince said.

"He's an alchemist?" Hermione asked.

"Yes!" Grace exclaimed, quieter than she had spoken before.

"He's also Grace's current idol," Patricia added.

"He's the only known creator of the Philosopher's Stone," Grace said. "How can you not idolize that?"

The three Gryffindors looked at each other. "What's the Philosopher's Stone?" Ron asked.

"You haven't heard of the Philosopher's Stone!"

"Shhh!" Madam Pince said, glaring at Grace.

Grace shrank down in her seat and went back to reading over the potion they had to make that day.

"The Philosopher's Stone is an artifact that creates gold and the Elixir of Life," Patricia whispered. "Basically it makes its owner rich and immortal."

"Cool," Ron said.

"Thanks," Harry said.

The three Gryffindors went back through the stacks, presumably returning to their table.

Patricia looked at Grace. "I don't remember learning about Nicholas Flamel in first year."

"We didn't," Grace said, her eyes zipping across the pages of her textbook.

"Then why do they need to know about him?"

Grace shrugged. "Extra reading?"

"They're Gryffindors, not Ravenclaws."

Grace shrugged again. "Maybe they're exceptions."

From what Patricia remembered of Ron Weasley, in all the times she'd visited the Burrow, he never showed any indication of willingly picking up a book for reasons other than schoolwork. She had thought that Hermione would be in Ravenclaw when she met her though. Maybe she was the exception and the boys were just getting dragged along for the ride. But that didn't explain why Harry had been in such a rush to ask their question that he'd risked evoking the wrath of Madam Pince for running in the library.

Well, this wasn't making her head feel any less fuzzy.

Patricia sighed and pulled out her tarot cards. Shuffling the deck, she thought, _"What is Harry up to?"_

She laid down three cards on top of her unfinished essay. They were the Magician, upside down, the three of wands, upright, and Death, upside down.

Oh dear.

* * *

 _Monday, November 25, 1991-Gryffindor Common Room, Gryffindor Tower, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland_

The trio of firsties whispering by the fireplace wouldn't have worried Fred, George and Lee at all if that trio hadn't had Harry Potter in it. As Harry Potter was involved, as well as Fred and George's youngest brother, the eavesdropping that the third-year boys were doing was totally and utterly justified.

"It's going to happen tonight," Harry insisted.

"Harry, just because your scar has been hurting," Hermione Granger began.

"It's a warning!" Harry interrupted. "Like, like a prophecy! I know that Snape is going to steal the Stone tonight."

Fred, George and Lee briefly looked at each other. That didn't sound good.

"Then we should tell a teacher," Hermione hissed, "Professor McGonagall or the Headmaster."

This Stone being stolen was something to tell Dumbledore about? That was definitely bad, especially since he didn't appear to be in the castle at the moment.

Dumbledore didn't normally miss dinner.

"And get Hagrid in trouble?" Ron said. "Or Stimpson and, and, that other Ravenclaw girl?"

And now Patricia was involved. Fantastic.

"We can just say we figured it out on our own," Hermione said. "They'll have to at least check up on it. And Snape couldn't get past the dog on Halloween, who's to say he's figured it out now."

She wasn't talking about the giant three-headed dog in the forbidden corridor, right? There was no way that anyone would be mad enough to try to get past that beast. Although, Snape was limping after Halloween…

"My scar—"

It was Hermione's turn to interrupt. "You should get it looked at by Madam Pomfrey."

"Harry, we could just tell McGonagall," Ron admitted. "She's our Head of House; it's her job to take care of this sort of stuff. Trust me. Percy's gone on about it enough times."

Harry frowned. "Fine, let's go find McGonagall."

The three first-years got up and hurried out the portrait hole. Fred, George and Lee stopped pretending to read their textbooks.

"That didn't sound good," Lee said.

"Obviously," Fred and George said.

"I have a feeling we should keep a close eye on the map tonight," George whispered.

"And we should let the girls know about what's going on," Fred added.

"What is going on?" Lee asked.

Fred and George shook their heads. "No idea."

* * *

 _Monday, November 25, 1991- Ravenclaw third-year girls' dormitory, Ravenclaw Tower, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland_

"The parchment's going off again," Violet said with a yawn.

Fred, George and Lee had written to them about an hour before curfew, telling them what they had overheard Harry Potter and his friends talking about in the common room. It only took a few minutes, and a lot of rambling from Grace, for the seven of them to figure out that the Stone that the first-years had been talking about was Nicholas Flamel's Philosopher's Stone and that it was hidden in the castle, guarded by the giant three-headed dog that the twins had found. Apparently, Harry thought that Professor Snape was out to steal it and was going to do so that night.

Like they needed Harry getting into more trouble with Quirrell already out to get him.

Patricia had ordered in all capital letters for Lee, George and Fred not to let Harry and his friends out of their sight, something that the boys were thankfully planning to do anyway. Actually, they were planning on camping out in the Gryffindor common room so that the three first-years couldn't get past them.

"I've got it," Noe said.

She picked up the glowing sheet of parchment sitting on Patricia's bedside table and read what was being written on it. Her eyes grew wide. She jumped off her own bed onto Patricia's and starting shaking the other girl frantically. After sending Benvolio off with a panicked letter to her adopted father, Patricia had passed out on top of her blankets in her robes with an enthusiasm that was usually reserved for putting her in the Hospital Wing.

"Wake up, wake up, wake up!"

Patricia groaned and slowly opened her eyes. "Whatsthematter?"

"Harry's gone after Snape!"

Patricia was immediately wide awake. She grabbed the parchment from Noe and read what Lee had scribbled down.

 _Harry, Ron and Granger left common room. Petrified Fred and Lee.-George_

 _George and I going after them. Lee going to get McGonagall. - Fred_

Then there was a blot of ink, followed by a message from Fred.

 _How do you get past a three headed dog?-Fred_

"Merlin's beard!" Patricia shouted, waking Violet and Grace.

"Whatsthematter?" Grace asked.

Noe filled the other two in on what was going on while Patricia scrambled for a quill to write a reply.

 _GET HARRY AND THE OTHERS OUT OF THERE!-Patricia_

 _Can't Trapped-F_

 _Play music-Patricia_

A few nerve-wracking moments later, more words appeared on the parchment.

 _Fred's singing. It's fallen asleep.-George_

Patricia breathed a sigh of relief. Thank Morgana. She hadn't been sure that would work. Assuming they all lived through this and none of them were expelled she would have to make Fred and George take back all the times they had teased her for reading Muggle books.

"What's the plan?" Grace asked.

Patricia looked up from the parchment and saw that all three of her roommates were looking at her.

"We…need to go get teachers. Now."

They all jumped up and scrambled to pull on shoes and dressing gowns before running down the stairs to the common room. There they stopped and Patricia turned to her friends.

"We're going out after curfew. If any of you don't want to risk getting expelled…"

"We're with you," Grace said fiercely.

"Though…maybe we should get a prefect?" Violet suggested.

"Good idea," Patricia said. "Violet, Noe, go wake up Penelope. Grace, we'll go get…Professor Babbling. She's closest."

Babbling also was the only professor who Patricia knew for sure where they would be. Flitwick was patrolling and Lee was already going to get McGonagall. Professor Dumbledore had been conspicuously absent at dinner.

That couldn't have been a good thing.

The four of them split up, Violet and Noe running back up the stairs to the sixth-year girls' dorm and Patricia and Grace darting out of the common room door.

By some miracle they didn't run into Filch, Mrs Norris or any of the ghosts on the way to Professor Babbling's rooms. Both girls had memorized the basic professor's rounds a while back (that came with the nighttime wanderings needed for many pranks that they inevitably got talked into) so they knew that there weren't any teachers near them just yet.

Professor Babbling's rooms were on the sixth floor near her office and were guarded by a painting of a unicorn with its foal. The little golden foal hid behind its mother when Patricia and Grace came running towards them.

"We…need…to…see…Professor…Babbling," Patricia told the unicorn as she tried to catch her breath after running through the hallways and up and down three flights of stairs.

The white unicorn tilted her head. "Students should be in bed," she said, and yes, hearing a unicorn talk was weird.

"It's an emergency!" Grace told her.

The unicorn hemmed and hawed, but quickly nudged her foal out of the painting to wake Professor Babbling.

Another message spilled out on the parchment in Patricia's hand while they were waiting.

 _Nearly got strangled by Devil's Snare.-Fred_

Patricia showed the message to Grace, who shook her head in amazement.

"Devil's Snare? I'd think Venomous Tentacula at least. It's the Philosopher's Stone!"

Patricia thought that whatever traps the Gryffindors were going through didn't need to be any more difficult, but that was just her opinion.

The unicorn painting swung into the room beyond. Professor Babbling stood inside the frame, her wand in her hand. She relaxed slightly when she saw that Patricia and Grace were waiting for her, but only slightly.

"What's wrong, girls?"

Patricia and Grace both started talking at the same time, trying to explain what was going on. It was a frantic, nonlinear explanation, but Professor Babbling managed to get the gist.

"Do you know where they are now?" she asked.

Patricia looked down at the parchment she was holding. "Fred's saying something about bouncing doorknobs."

"Doorknobs…That'll be Flitwick's obstacle," Professor Babbling murmured. "Next is Quirrell's and then…Merlin's beard! The troll!"

"Troll?" Patricia and Grace exclaimed.

The painting swung shut behind Professor Babbling as she took off running down the hallway, her wand lit brightly. Grace and Patricia looked at each other for a split second before they went running after her.


	30. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

 _Monday, November 25, 1991-Somewhere on the fourth floor, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland_

 _Stay where you are. Babbling said something about troll.-Patricia_

Patricia's writing definitely wasn't as neat as it usually was (that came with writing while running through pitch black hallways) but as long as her message got through it didn't matter. Patricia and Grace ran as fast as they could to keep up with Professor Babbling. She was going so fast that the light at the end of her wand didn't even have time to wake the portraits they passed. When she stopped suddenly both girls collided with her back.

"Minerva," Professor Babbling gasped. "Good. Potter and his friends have gone to the forbidden corridor."

"See, I told you I wasn't lying," Lee said.

Professor McGonagall was pulling him along by his ear to make sure that he went back to Gryffindor Tower. It hurt just as much as it sounds like it does.

In the light from Babbling's wand, McGonagall's face was pinched. She looked around Bathsheda at the two Ravenclaws catching their breath behind her.

"I seriously doubt," Professor McGonagall began saying.

Patricia interrupted her. "With all due respect, professor, it would be stupid not to look into this, even if we were lying. Harry thinks the Stone is going to be stolen and eve if he's wrong, he, Granger, Ron and the twins are going to be in danger going through whatever traps have been set up. A room of bouncing doorknobs is one thing, a troll is another."

McGonagall's face paled. She looked at Babbling, who nodded. Without another word the two professors took off running down the hallway.

The three students followed them.

"More running," Grace complained.

They made it to the forbidden corridor in record time. The staircases seemed to be stunned by the two professors sprinting though the halls because they didn't do as much as twitch while they were on them. Professor McGonagall and Professor Babbling stopped outside the entrance to the corridor and appeared to realize for the first time that the three students had followed them.

"You three go back to your common rooms," McGonagall told them.

"We're coming with you," Patricia said.

She continued before McGonagall could protest. "If someone is stealing the Stone you'll have to stop them. If anyone is injured then we'll bring them to the Hospital Wing and you can go on."

"We don't have time to argue, Minerva," Babbling said.

McGonagall pursed her lips. "Fine," she said, "but you must do what we say."

Patricia, Lee and Grace all nodded quickly.

"Then, Miss Abbot, go to the Owlery and send a message to Professor Dumbledore," McGonagall ordered. "I will reverse any punishments you may receive."

Grace opened her mouth to argue with McGonagall before she caught herself and went running for the West Tower and the Owlery.

And then there were four.

Babbling opened the door and they stepped into the forbidden corridor, immediately coming face to faces with what Patricia was sure had to be the world's biggest dog of any number of heads. The dog growled at them, probably very angry at being disturbed for the third time in one night.

Professor McGonagall very calmly waved her wand at the gilded harp that was sitting near the door. The harp began playing a nice little tune that very quickly had all three pairs of the dog's eyes drifting shut.

"I can't believe Hagrid named him Fluffy," Babbling whispered.

Lee looked at the giant snoring dog with wide eyes. "That thing is called Fluffy?"

McGonagall and Babbling worked together to move Fluffy off of the trapdoor he was guarding.

"There's a drop into Devil's Snare here," Babbling warned. "Don't let it grab hold of you, but if it does, don't struggle. We'll get you out."

They jumped down onto the Devil's Snare and found that it wasn't in any shape to grab hold of anything. There were bluebell flames dotting the plant's entire surface, and as a result it was coiled up so tightly that it wasn't able to move any further.

"That was probably Granger," Lee said, nodding towards the blue fire. "I've seen her carrying jars of that around."

"Ten points to Gryffindor," Professor McGonagall said. "Come along, you two."

Lee and Patricia followed the professors into the next room, passing two broomsticks leaning against the wall of the adjoining hallway that were probably there so that no one would get stuck between Fluffy and the Devil's Snare on their way out. Both of them noted that they were better brooms than the school brooms used for flying lessons, which probably said something about the Hogwarts budget.

They heard the next obstacle before they saw it. The sound of vibrating springs was surprisingly loud, but when they entered the room it made a lot more sense. About a hundred metal spheres were bouncing between the floor and ceiling and off of the walls. If it hadn't been for whatever charms Professor Flitwick had put on them they would have made an even more terrific noise.

"Are we supposed to catch the doorknob?" Patricia asked.

"Forget the doorknob, how are we supposed to reach the door?" Lee wanted to know.

The metal projectiles seemed to block any possible safe path across the room as quickly as they opened. Patricia wondered if Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred and George had given up and gone back to Gryffindor Tower instead of dealing with them.

That would be a much better reason for them not being in the room than having made their way onward and getting eaten by a troll. Explaining that to Molly Weasley would be a nightmare.

"They're supposed to have softening charms on them," Babbling told them, feeling slightly apprehensive herself.

McGonagall picked up the two butterfly nets that were on their side of the room and handed one of them to Patricia. "The doorknob is silver with a four-leaf clover on it. One of us will have to catch it."

Patricia looked down at the butterfly net. "Me?"

"You, Miss Stimpson-Black," McGonagall said. "You are a Beater, are you not?"

Yes, she was Beater, not a Seeker. Still, she did probably have the fastest reflexes out of all of them, which would be needed for catching a bouncing doorknob that changed directions in the blink of an eye.

"There!" Lee said suddenly, pointing to the far corner of the room. "No, wait, it's coming this way. Patty, to your left!"

Patricia saw the blur of silver out of the corner of her eye and shot the net out to capture it just before it could bounce off of the wall.

"Don't call me Patty," she told Lee as she reached into the net and took out a silver door knob with a four-leaf clover embossed on the surface.

"It was faster," Lee said as an excuse.

McGonagall put down her net. "That's the one."

Lee and Patricia eyed the doorknobs still rocketing around the room. They sure looked like solid metal.

"Cover your heads," Professor Babbling suggested.

They put their arms over their heads and ran across the room. The doorknobs bouncing off of them felt like snowballs. Snowballs that Fred and George would make, packed as dense as possible with a crust of ice on the surface. They were probably going to have bruises but it wasn't too bad.

Patricia held up the doorknob. "Do I put this here?" she asked, moving it to the place on the door right above the keyhole where it looked like a doorknob ought to go.

Her question was answered when the doorknob got stuck to the door and they just barely heard the click of the door being unlocked.

"Why isn't there a key?" Lee asked. "Wouldn't that be a better way to keep people out?"

"The Headmaster didn't want anyone to get trapped," McGonagall said.

Well, that made total sense. Not.

McGonagall eased the door open. Immediately a horrible smell was released. McGonagall's eyes watered as she peeked into the next room.

"The troll's been knocked out," McGonagall said with a cough.

Professor Babbling's face paled. "Students couldn't have done that."

Did she know the same Fred and George as the rest of them? Also, Halloween.

They skirted around the edges of the troll room, covering their noses with the sleeves of their robes. The next door was also unlocked (because of course it was) and Professor McGonagall was again the first person to enter the next room.

"Mister Weasley!" she exclaimed.

Patricia and Lee ran into the room after her and saw Ron sitting by the wall nursing a very obviously broken arm.

"Professor?" he asked, dazed.

"Mister Weasley, did you beat my chess set?" McGonagall asked, looking very surprised indeed.

Ron nodded and then put a hand to his head. "Ow."

Patricia and Lee looked at the giant stone chessmen lined up in front of them and all the way on the other side of the room in front of the door. Patricia supposed that this obstacle was playing across the room, and by the look of Ron getting thrown into walls.

"Where are the others?" Lee asked.

"They must have gone on," Ron said. "I, er, might have gotten knocked out."

Professor Babbling waved her wand over Ron's arm to put it into a splint while Professor McGonagall crossed the room to the rows of white chessmen.

" _Calx nonvivent faciam_ ," McGonagall said, waving her wand at the chessmen.

The chessmen, which had been in the middle of drawing their swords, froze. McGonagall turned to Professor Babbling.

"I believe your obstacle is next, Bathsheda?"

Babbling nodded. She opened the next (unlocked) door, peaked through it, and immediately slammed it shut.

"Merlin help us!" she shrieked.

"What's wrong?" McGonagall asked. She reached for the doorknob and Professor Babbling slapped her hand away.

"We mustn't go in there!" Professor Babbling exclaimed. "It's too dangerous, much, much too dangerous!"

"But we have to," Patricia said.

"What's happened?" McGonagall asked.

"Someone's broken through my obstacle using Blood Magic," Professor Babbling said gravely. "The entire room is toxic."

* * *

A/n: McGonagall's chessmen freezing spell is basically "I order the stone not to live" in really badly translated Latin.

-Cynder2013


	31. Chapter 30

Chapter 30

 _Monday, November 25, 1991-McGonagall's Giant Chess Room, The forbidden third floor corridor, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland_

"Someone is trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone," Professor McGonagall said slowly.

She didn't want to believe it, but it was the only option. First-year and third-year students wouldn't know how to use Blood Magic, and none of the Weasley children would ever think about even touching something that dark.

"We have to get through that room," Patricia said.

Professor Babbling shook her head. "No, it's too dangerous. Mr. Potter, Miss Granger and the twins should be alright, but the Blood Magic has had more time to mix with the runes. If we go in there the off-gassing will kill us."

"The longer the runes and Blood Magic are together the worse it's going to get," Patricia protested. "And we have to get the others out."

"Isn't there some way to fix it?" Ron asked Professor Babbling. "Like a spell or something?"

"Rune chains!" Patricia exclaimed. "If we break the power of the runes then the off-gassing will stop."

Professor Babbling raised her eyebrows. "Exactly who is the Rune Master here?"

Patricia blushed. "It was in the homework." Apparently she had absorbed more of the information than she had thought.

"But won't someone have to go into the toxic room to write the rune chain?" Lee asked, somewhat sarcastically.

"I'll do it," Patricia said.

Before anyone could protest she held up her right hand, displaying the golden ring on her finger. "My heir ring should protect me long enough for me to write the runes and power them up. Professor Babbling just has to tell me which ones to use."

No one liked the idea, but it was the best they had. Professor Babbling wrote the runes that Patricia would need on a piece of scrap parchment and gave it to her along with a piece of chalk that she had in the pocket of her dressing gown, as any good Rune Master would.

Patricia gave the message parchment and her self-inking quill to Lee just in case Fred or George wrote another message. Then she took a deep breath and darted through the door leading to Babbling's obstacle.

The air was heavy, with an energy that made Patricia's stomach turn and her skin crawl. She shivered and quickly got to work, writing the rune chain on the floor by the door, as far away from the blood scrawled on the opposite wall as she could get.

The room had originally been a rune box puzzle, with runes written in a grid on the floor, walls and ceiling in an arrangement that had to be unscrambled by sliding the tiles that the runes were written on in order to unlock the next door. The thief, whoever they were, had gotten past this puzzle by blowing it up, mixing Blood Magic with the runes to make the magical equivalent of a nuclear bomb, which was thankfully contained within the one room.

Patricia finished writing the rune chain, a circle of runes with a 'clasp' rune on one edge that would link the chain to the rest of the runes in the room, and then took out her wand to charge the runes. As she pushed magic through her wand into the clasp rune to the rest of the chain, her hand started to feel warmer. She concentrated on finishing the rune chain before looking to see what was happening, just in time to see the gold parts of her heir ring melt off of her finger and run down the palm of her hand, leaving the adder stone stuck to the back of her finger with bits of molten gold.

"That's a problem," Patricia squeaked.

As fast as she could she erased the required runes from the rune chain, causing all of the runes in the room to glow with red light before they blinked out, taking the stifling energy in the air with them.

Patricia stumbled back into the chess room. Professor Babbling caught her by the arm before she could fall to the floor.

"It's done," Patricia told her. "I'm tired. Can I go to sleep now?"

Professor Babbling shook Patricia by her shoulders. "No, you mustn't go to sleep! Take Mr. Wesley and go to the Hospital Wing. Use the brooms."

"Go with them, Mr. Jordan," McGonagall ordered.

"Someone else might be hurt," Lee protested. "You'll need me to get them out."

Ron stood and used his good arm to support Patricia. "We'll make it," he said. "Go stop Snape."

He and Patricia walked with some difficulty back through the door to the doorknob room. They would then take one of the brooms and fly all the way to the Hospital Wing without one of them falling off, frightening Madam Pomfrey half to death when they burst through the doors and Patricia fell three feet to the floor when she passed out.

And then there were three.

Babbling and McGonagall looked at Lee.

"If we tell you to run," Babbling said, "you run. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," Lee said with a nod.

They went through the destroyed rune puzzle room and to the next door, which opened onto a wall of purple fire. Lee blinked. That seemed like a pretty good way to protect the Philosopher's Stone, but if it was then where were Potter, Granger, and Fred and George?

"Someone is in there," McGonagall said quietly.

She and Babbling readied their wands.

"Flame-freezing charm?" Babbling asked.

McGonagall nodded. A flame-freezing charm should work on the fire from the side that they were on.

Babbling cast the flame-freezing charm and held her non-wand hand out towards the flames. When she felt that they were barely warm she nodded and walked through the wall of purple fire, followed by McGonagall and Babbling.

They stopped dead when they saw what was on the other side.

* * *

A/n: This is a short chapter because I think it makes the transition into the next room smoother. Also, I couldn't resist leaving you on a quasi cliffhanger.

Yes, I'm kind of evil.

-Cynder2013


	32. Chapter 31

Chapter 31

 _Monday, November 25, 1991-Snape's Logic Puzzle Room, The forbidden third floor corridor, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland_

"How did you two get a cauldron down here?" Lee exclaimed.

Fred and George didn't look up from the bubbling potion. "Birthday present from Patty and Sirius," George said.

"Expandable cauldron," Fred added.

Hermione and Harry were standing by the table in the middle of the room that had a row of glass bottles on it. Both of them were blinking in surprise as Fred and George chopped and stirred and threw stuff that seemed to appear out of nowhere into their cauldron. Hermione was holding a piece of parchment in one hand and her other hand was held up in front of her like something had just been snatched out of it.

"Done!" Fred and George exclaimed.

Fred took a glass, which had been charmed unbreakable and was used the Muggle way for listening though doors, out of the pocket of his dressing gown and filled it with the potion in their cauldron. "Looks right."

Before any of the others could stop him, Fred took a sip of the potion. He shivered.

"Tastes right."

"How do we test it?" George asked.

"Did you just reverse engineer that potion?" Hermione shrieked.

"Of course not," George said sarcastically.

"We just threw random things into the cauldron," Fred agreed.

"They just reverse engineered whatever potion we need," Lee confirmed for everyone in the room who wasn't used to depicturing what the Weasley twins were saying.

It was then Professor Babbling's turn to mutter, "Ten points to Gryffindor."

Harry had thrown off his shock and gone to pick something up from the corner of the room. He came back to the table and showed them the spider he had caught. "We can test it on this."

"Great idea," Fred said.

"But do spiders even drink?" George asked.

The twins looked at Lee, who nodded. His tarantula drank water, so he assumed that spiders did too.

George poured a bit of the potion in the lid of the jar and started trying to coax the spider to drink from it. Professor McGonagall, having finally shaken off her surprise at seeing the Weasley twins working on something that could be mistaken for schoolwork, pointed her wand at the unfortunate arachnid and muttered a compulsion charm that caused the spider to dip its head into the potion, leaving it no choice but to drink.

McGonagall then directed the spider into the black cursed fire on the other side of the room using a levitation charm. A few seconds later the spider was taken out of the fire, completely unharmed.

"Excellent work, Messrs Weasley," McGonagall said. "Why you don't show this amount of talent in Potions class I'm sure we'll never know."

Simple, they didn't want to draw Snape's ire any more than they had to.

"We have to go!" Harry said. "We're running out of time to stop Snape."

He made a grab for the potion, but Fred held the jar up just out of his reach.

"Hold it, Potter. The adults are in charge now," Fred said.

"As much as it pains us to admit it," George added.

All of the students looked at the two professors.

"Professor Babbling and I will go on," McGonagall decided. "All of you will go back to the trap door and tell the Headmaster that we have gone to apprehend the thief."

"But-" Harry protested.

"You are first and third year students," Babbling said fiercely. "You are not trained for this."

Not to mention that Sirius and Remus would have their heads if they let Harry go into danger.

Before Harry could say anything else, Fred and George each grabbed one of his arms and marched him out of the room.

"We want the cauldron back," George said as they passed Lee and the professors on their way out.

"I'll take care of it," Lee promised.

McGonagall picked up the jar that Fred had left on the table and filled it to the top with the potion in the cauldron. She swallowed a mouthful and shivered as an icy feeling spread through her body. She gave the potion to Babbling, who also took a large sip.

"Do not follow us," McGonagall ordered just before they stepped through the cursed fire.

Hermione nodded. "We won't, Professor."

"Good luck," Lee said.

The two witches left the room though the cursed fire that was the only thing separating them from the thief.

* * *

 _Tuesday, November 26, 1991-Dumbledore's Mirror of Erised Room, The forbidden third floor corridor, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland_

Professor Babbling kept her eyes open while they walked through the fire. The light of the flames caused spots to dance across her vision, but it was better than being blindsided by a curse.

She and McGonagall exited the wall of fire at the same time. When she saw the familiar rear of a turban facing them from across the room she wasn't sure whether to gasp or groan.

Of course it was the Defense professor.

"I see the Stone," Quirrell murmured as he looked into the large mirror that was leaning against the wall. "I am presenting it to my Master! But where is it? Where?"

He stepped closer to the mirror until his nose nearly touched the glass. "Is it in the mirror? Should I break it?"

Without a word whispered between them, Babbling and McGonagall drew their wands and silently fired curses at Quirrell's back.

Babbling's blasting hex sent Quirrell crashing through the mirror. Unfortunately, that meant that McGonagall's stunner just skimmed the top of his turban.

Quirrell practically growled. He pushed himself to his feet, cutting his hands on the broken glass, and turned to face them. His face twisted into a snarl.

"I wasn't expecting to have company."

"We should have expected you," McGonagall said. "You're not getting the Stone."

Quirrell drew his wand. "Just try to stop me."

Spells flew through the air. There wasn't any cover in the room, aside from the destroyed mirror, so the fighters were running and ducking spells as much as they were firing their own. This wasn't a duel, this was a battle.

A green spell went flying over McGonagall's head. The Killing Curse. McGonagall pursed her lips and tried not to think about how close it had come.

For some reason, the words on the mirror's frame caught Babbling's eye as she dodged a bolder that Quirrell had conjured to throw at her head. _Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi._ They ran through her head until they turned themselves around to say, _I show not your face but your heart's desire._

Right now her heart's desire was to make it through this battle alive.

As if some god had heard her thoughts, a third wand joined her and McGonagall in fighting Quirrell. Dumbledore threw out spells so quickly that it was impossible to guess what they were until they hit their mark. In seconds Quirrell was unconscious on the stone floor, covered in cuts and bruises, and with his turban half undone.

McGonagall lowered her wand, panting. "It's good to see you, Albus."

Dumbledore acknowledged her with a nod before walking over to examine the remains of the mirror.

"Was the Philosopher's Stone in that mirror?" Babbling wanted to know.

Dumbledore shook his head. A faint smile crossed his lips and his eyes twinkled.

"That was my original plan, but luckily Nicholas had a better idea. No, this is simply an old man mourning the destruction of a unique magical artifact."

A faint blush crept over Babbling's face.

"So the Stone is safe?" McGonagall asked.

"Indeed," Dumbledore said. "Quite safe."

He couldn't tell them where it was, of course, and they wisely didn't ask.

The three of them looked at the unconscious Quirrell.

"What are we going to do with him?" Babbling asked.

McGonagall grimaced. "I have some idea."

That man was going to pay for putting their students in danger.


	33. Chapter 32

Chapter 32

 _Tuesday, December 10, 1991-_ _St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, London, England, Great Britain_

Burning.

She was burning.

Her entire body felt like it was on fire. In fact, she saw flames all around her. She couldn't move, couldn't move.

And she was burning.

Somehow, even burning, she was able to wonder who she was. Was she only one she? There were many voices that all seemed to be coming from her. And hissing. The hissing wasn't from the fire. It was old, very old.

Why wasn't she screaming? None of her voices were screaming. Maybe she wasn't on fire? No, she was a witch, and witches burn.

She was a witch. Yes, that was right. She was a witch. She was a witch, her name was Kleio Floros. No, she was a witch, her name was Kalliope Floros. No, no, her name was Pythia Floros. No, no, no! Her name, her name was…

"Patricia," one of her voices said.

Yes! That was right. She was a witch, her name was Patricia Floros.

No, that was wrong. Not Floros, not anymore.

"Patricia," the same voice said again, "it's time to wake up."

A smile. The voice was smiling and…crying? Yes, the voice was smiling at her and crying.

"My darling daughter," the voice whispered.

Patricia opened her eyes. Her first thought was that she had to be in the Hospital Wing, there wasn't anywhere else in the castle with that much white. Then she saw the mediwitch who had walked into the room as soon as she had opened her eyes. That mediwitch, while clearly a mediwitch, was not Madam Pomfrey.

Patricia tried to speak but found that she couldn't make any sound. The mediwitch noticed when her patient's heart rate went up and wasted a few seconds trying to figure out what was wrong before remembering the silencing spell that Healer Smith had placed on the girl when she wouldn't stop screaming. She cancelled the spell with a wave of her wand.

"Where?" Patricia croaked.

"St Mungo's," the mediwitch said kindly. "You've been here for two weeks."

Two weeks? She had been unconscious for two weeks?

That actually wasn't very long considering that most people exposed to as much rune/Blood magic toxin as she had been never woke up at all.

Being stuck in St Mungo's was a lot worse than being stuck in the Hospital Wing. The Healers and mediwitches and mediwizards had learned from the best after all. Every one of them seemed to know Madam Pomfrey personally. It was another week after she woke up before the mini Madam Pomfreys let Patricia have any visitors. The first few days were alright because she was still too tired to do much except sleep and take the potions Healer Smith prescribed. After that, when she wasn't allowed to get out of bed except to use the washroom even though she was plenty strong enough to do so (at least, she thought she was), Patricia was bored, bored, _bored_.

When Remus, Sirius and Harry were finally allowed to visit the only reason that Patricia didn't jump out of bed and hug all of them was the sticking charm that Healer Smith had put on her pajamas.

"Morning, Pup!" Sirius said with a tense smile. "How are you feeling?"

Patricia smiled. "Been better. Is Ron alright?"

Harry nodded. "Madam Pomfrey mended his arm in about a minute."

"What about the others?" Patricia asked. "Was anyone else hurt?"

"Er…" Harry looked at Sirius and Remus.

"Professor Quirrell is dead," Remus said slowly.

Patricia blinked. "What? How?"

"It's a long story," Harry said.

Patricia scowled at the bed that she was stuck in. "I'm not going anywhere."

Harry sat down and began to tell her what had happened.

* * *

 _Tuesday, November 26, 1991-The Hospital Wing, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Somewhere in Scotland_

Dumbledore had all of the students involved in the Philosopher's Stone fake-out fiasco bunking in the Hospital Wing, much to Madam Pomfrey's chagrin. Healers from St Mungo's had come to transport Patricia Stimpson-Black to the hospital and basically having to admit that she could do nothing for one of her patients put the mediwitch in a bad mood.

"You all just get to sleep, you hear me?" she told the interlopers. "It's not healthy for growing children to be up all hours of the night."

Only Ron got any sleep. Fred, George and Lee whispered to each other for the rest of the night, Grace was worried about Patricia, and Harry was worried about everything. Hermione's mind was too busy trying to put together everything that had happened for her to rest.

Quirrell was the one who had tried to steal the Philosopher's Stone, not Snape. The third years had told them that Quirrell had also been the one hexing Harry's broom, not Snape. Why did Quirrell want Harry dead?

Really, when you think about it the answer is obvious, but as she had been awake for nearly twenty-four hours straight we'll give Hermione a pass for not figuring this one out at the time.

Sometime just before sunrise, Professor Dumbledore entered the Hospital Wing with Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick. Flitwick, along with all the other professors who had created obstacles for the forbidden corridor, had been woken up and told about the entire fiasco. Snape had, predictably, grumbled and muttered something unflattering about Harry Potter and his idiot friends (his words, not ours) but hadn't seriously protested when Dumbledore told him to stand guard over Quirrell.

Every student who was up immediately pretended to be asleep.

"I'm surprised the children are getting any rest," McGonagall said. "Bathsheda needed three doses of Calming Draught."

"I need Calming Draught, and I wasn't even there," Flitwick muttered. "Why is it always the Defense professor?"

That was the question that no one had the answer to. A curse on the position had been suggested in the past, but that was quickly dismissed as pure nonsense. After all, who would want to curse the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor?

Go ahead and roll your eyes. We'll wait.

"It has been my experience that children are quite resilient," Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eye.

"Of course they are," McGonagall said dryly.

I don't know what would have happened next—perhaps Dumbledore would start dancing the Macarena—but at that moment the doors of the Hospital Wing burst open. The professors immediately turned around with their wands raised and came face-to-face with Quirrell. They didn't have any time to process their shock before curses came flying at them. The students immediately stopped pretending to be asleep, or woke up in Ron's case, and took out their own wands, though the first years didn't actually know any spells that would be useful.

Quirrell looked quite the worse for wear. His turban was falling off, his robes were ripped, and his lips were black. His eyes darted wildly around the room until they settled on one student.

Harry Potter.

 _"Kill the boy,"_ a voice hissed. _"KILL THE BOY!"_

Quirrell dove towards Harry. His turban fell behind him like a banner, revealing a grey, ugly face with red eyes. Grace squeaked and her severing charm glanced off of Quirrell's arm, leaving a tiny cut behind. Her spell came closer than Lee's, which missed Quirrell completely and went out a window. Fred and George both hit Quirrell with the Jelly-Legs Jinx, making him fall over just as he reached Harry's bed and causing the professors' spells to pulverise his turban rather than his head.

 _"Finite incantatem,"_ Quirrell growled.

Harry fell out of the bed and scuttled away from Quirrell on his hands and feet. He had his wand clutched in one hand but he couldn't remember any spells except for the one that Hermione had used to unlock Fluffy's door. That wasn't going to help him here.

Quirrell took another leap and just missed getting hit by a spell from Dumbledore. That one bounced off a window and nearly hit Hermione. The three professors flinched. How were they going to handle this without injuring their students?

That question was answered for them when Quirrell, seemingly having forgotten about the wand that he had stolen from Snape, caught up to Harry and wrapped his hands around his neck. A second later he reeled back, his hands smoking.

 _"Use your wand, you fool!"_ the face in the back of Quirrell's head shouted.

A wand was pointed at Harry's face. His Seeker reflexes kicked in and he grabbed Quirrell's wrist to try to wrestle the wand away from him. Smoke began spewing from where his fingers touched Quirrell's skin and Quirrell screamed.

The wand fell to the ground, followed by Quirrell's hand. Harry watched with wide eyes as the wizard stumbled back, hunching over his stump and cursing.

 _"Kill him!"_ the face hissed.

"Master..." Quirrell whimpered.

 _"KILL HIM!"_

Before Quirrell could move, two things happened. Harry jumped up and pushed him as hard as he could, and Dumbledore sent another curse at him.

Black veins spread across Quirrell's face. Smoke rose from the burns that Harry had left on his chest and arm. The face in the back of his head screamed. The windows rattled in their frames.

Then everything was still. Absolutely still.


End file.
